Facebook defends the decision to leave fake Pelosi videos, saying that there is no policy that publications should be "true"



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Facebook agrees with the witnesses that a viral video by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is false, selectively modified to make her appear drunk. Despite being posted on Facebook, where it has been viewed more than 2 million times, the social media giant has defended its decision not to remove the video, even if it is not true.

On Friday, Facebook's Global Policy Officer Monika Bickert explained when she interviewed CNN's Anderson Cooper why the video was not removed following the company's decision based on the lack of "politics posting on Facebook must be true."

Cooper asked Bickert, "As a result of the 2016 elections, of course, Facebook has repeatedly told Congress and the American people that you are serious in the fight against misinformation and misinformation. Yet this tampered video that your fact checkers have acknowledged is tampered with by the President. Pelosi stays on your platform. Why?"

"Anyone who sees this video in the news stream, those who will share it with someone else, those who have already done so before, are alerted to the fact that this video is fake, "replied Bickert.

"And that's part of how we handle misinformation," she continued. "We work with internationally accredited fact-checking organizations that are independent of Facebook, and we think it's the right organizations to decide if something is right or wrong."

Bickert added, "As soon as we get an evaluation of their content as fake, we significantly reduce the distribution of this content."

"But why keep it that way?" Cooper said.

"We think it's important for people to make their own choice as to what to believe," said Bickert, who said that Facebook was actively telling users that the video was fake, even though it did not go unnoticed. did not want it. "Our job is to make sure we provide accurate information."

Bickert added that the social media platform is not "in the information sector".

"We are not in the news business. We are in the social media sector, "said Bickert, who said Facebook is" making money by being in the information business ".

"Well, you're in the news business," Cooper said. "If you share news, it's because you make money. It allows people to watch you and participate more in your site, which I understand, and that's right. But if you're in the information business, you have to do it right and it's false information that you're spreading. "

In a statement to the Guardian, a Facebook spokesperson said, "There is a tension here: we are working hard to find the right balance between encouraging freedom of expression and promoting an authentic and safe community, and we are convinced that reduce the distribution of inauthentic content. But just because something is authorized on Facebook does not mean that distribution has to be done. In other words, we allow people to post it as a form of expression, but we will not show it at the top of News Feed. "

Unlike Facebook, YouTube removed videos because they violated "clear rules describing content that is prohibited to publish." The video sent a disturbing warning about the fight against misinformation online improved by the AI ​​in the 2020 elections, in which a deep false technology threatens. misinterpret politicians.

President Trump and his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani are among millions of people who have viewed or shared deliberately edited videos of Pelosi, D-Calif. While Giuliani posted, then deleted the tampered video – and offered a gagged apology for sharing the modified clip – Trump posted separately on Twitter a compilation talking Pelosi videos that had been glued together by Fox Business. "PELOSI STAMMERS THROUGH THE NEWS CONFERENCE," he said.

Hillary Clinton condemned Trump's actions in a speech in Houston on Friday.

"The president and his acolytes are running to broadcast a falsified video of Nancy Pelosi," she said. "Now these are sexist rubbish. But it's also a sign that Trump is scared. "

Pelosi's daughter also criticized the GOP for its role in broadcasting the video.

"Republicans and their conservative allies pump this despicable scythe for years! Now they are caught, " wrote Christine Pelosi on Twitter Thursday. She included a "fact check" indicating that "Madam President does not even drink alcohol!"

To defend himself against accusations of disseminating false information, the Politics WastchDog Facebook page, which published the viral video, wrote: "Just for the record, we have never claimed that President Pelosi was in a state of" 39; impaired. We can not control what people in the comments think. It's a free country.

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