Facebook to update policy, no more exemptions for politicians

WASHINGTON/BRUSSELS: Facebook plans to end a contentious policy championed by CEO Mark Zuckerberg that exempted politicians from certain moderation rules on its site.

The company’s rationale for that policy held that the speech of political leaders is inherently newsworthy and in the public interest even if it is offensive, bullying or otherwise controversial. Facebook is currently mulling over what to do with the account of former president Donald Trump, which it “indefinitely” suspended January 6, leaving it in Facebook limbo with its owners unable to post.

The change in policy was first reported on Thursday by the tech site The Verge and later confirmed by the New York Times and the Washington Post.

EU, UK launch probe

Europe and Britain launched formal antitrust investigations into Facebook on Friday to determine if the world’s largest social network was using customer data to unfairly compete with advertisers, in a new assault on its business model.

The separate moves open new fronts in Europe against one of the US tech giants, with the investigations looking at how Facebook uses its vast trove of data, including from the near 7 million companies that advertise on Facebook’s Marketplace.

In April, more than 1 billion people were visiting the buying and selling service a month.