Employees at Facebook reportedly pushed the company to censor some of Donald Trump’s posts as “hate speech,” leading the company to unveil a new policy on Friday permitting “newsworthy” content even when users find it offensive.
“In the weeks ahead, we’re going to begin allowing more items that people find newsworthy, significant or important to the public interest, even if they might otherwise violate our standards… Our intent is to allow more images and stories without posing safety risks or showing graphic images to minors and others who do not want to see them,” the company said in a statement.
“As always, our goal is to channel our community’s values, and to make sure our policies reflect our community’s interests,” Facebook added. “We’re looking forward to working closely with experts, publishers, journalists, photographers, law enforcement officials and safety advocates about how to do better when it comes to the kinds of items we allow.”
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg ruled in December against cracking down on Trump, sources told the Wall Street Journal. They added that Facebook employees tasked with reviewing “inappropriate” content threatened to quit over the issue.
The development comes after allegations emerged this year that Facebook had worked to censor conservative news and media outlets from a “trending news” section on its homepage.
