After Facebook refused to take down a misleading ad by the Trump campaign about former Vice President Joseph Biden, Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren’s campaign ran an ad on Facebook falsely claiming that Mark Zuckerberg endorsed President Trump’s reelection bid.
Warren has been critical of Facebook’s stance on political ads. While the social media giant has cracked down on disinformation on its platform, the company refuses to police politicians’ speech, contending that such efforts would encroach on free speech rights.
“Our approach is grounded in Facebook’s fundamental belief in free expression, respect for the democratic process, and the belief that, in mature democracies with a free press, political speech is already arguably the most scrutinized speech there is, ” Katie Harbath, Facebook’s public policy director for Global Elections, wrote in response to a request from the Biden campaign to remove the misleading ad.
In a series of tweets on October 12, Warren accused Facebook of valuing profits over our democratic process.
Warren also asked her Twitter followers to sign a petition to hold Zuckerberg accountable for Facebook’s policy. “Facebook already helped elect Donald Trump once through negligence. Now, they’ve changed their policy so they can profit from lies to the American people. It’s time to hold Mark Zuckerberg accountable,” the petition reads.
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