Facebook to change rules for politicians

Facebook on Friday plans to announce new rules for world leaders who use its platform, a source familiar with the plan told CNN Business, in a move that could limit what politicians can get away with posting.

The change comes after Facebook took the unprecedented step of suspending then President Donald Trump from its platforms in January, CNN reports.

Politicians have typically been given leeway because Facebook operated on the assumption that their posts were newsworthy and part of the public debate. As a result, the company did not apply its regular rules to their posts. But now Facebook will no longer assume newsworthiness for the posts of world leaders, the source said.

However, the company will not be ending its newsworthiness exception entirely. The company will continue to use the exception, according to the source, but, in another significant change, will begin explicitly disclosing when the exception has been applied.
 
Facebook will also introduce a strike system that could result in other leaders and politicians being suspended if they continue to break the company's rules around, for example, hate speech and inciting violence, the source said.

The company is not expected to reverse its controversial policy of exempting politicians from fact checking on its platform, the source added.

The Verge first reported details of Friday's planned announcement.