Facebook has been struggling for years with misinformation and all of the posts that may fall into the Fake News category, with content appearing during election campaigns being particularly harmful to the social network.
Logically, we might think that the rules against misinformation and any other type of content that could be included in the Fake News category are strictly adhered to by the administrators of the social network, any abuse could have unintended long-term consequences.
In practice, the penalties of these practices are hit by rigid rules, easily attackable by well-paid lawyers. The result is the proliferation of advertising campaigns that may need to be labeled misinformation, on the grounds that they do not flagrantly violate Facebook posting rules.
As a consequence of this double standard, some of the posts made on Facebook are proving to be more difficult to remove than others.
Nowhere else are these practices more obvious than in electoral campaigns, the electoral campaigns held on Facebook seem to come under the control of a much more relaxed verification, regarding the accuracy of the information presented.
According to investigations conducted by The Guaridian, in one instance an Australian political faction circulated misleading video postings, without Facebook taking corrective action.
In responding to the allegations, Facebook administrators have declined to arbitrate political disputes, let alone the removal of posts made by politicians. If for ordinary users the practice used is to reduce the visibility of posts of questionable quality, in the case of Facebook politicians it seems to be a double standard, ignoring their abuses.
