Re:Dissent at Facebook over hands-off stance on political ads
by repolfx on Tuesday October 29, 2019 @07:13AM
(#21385835)
Seems like a straightforward first amendment violation to me, exactly because nobody agrees on what's "true".
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Re:Dissent at Facebook over hands-off stance on political ads
by int_19h on Tuesday October 29, 2019 @04:29PM
(#21391622)
Defamation, for example, is not protected by the First Amendment, and deciding whether some information is true or not is crucial to determining whether it constitutes defamation.
Re:Dissent at Facebook over hands-off stance on political ads
by adthrowaway123 on Tuesday October 29, 2019 @09:19PM
(#21393772)
This is irrelevant - there are all kinds of speech that are generally accepted to be outside the scope of free speech. Political speech that includes false claims does not fall under that and never has. If taking down "false speech" was something the US government can easily enforce, we'd make China look like a shining beacon of freedom. And the proper recourse to such speech is the court, not poorly paid and overworked social media moderators.
Also, it's important to keep in mind that the Trump ad in question does not make claims that are easily proven to be false - they are merely BS claims that are entirely unsubstantiated. I don't think they'd be taken down even if a rule against false claims existed and was properly followed. There's no evidence given for such claims, but not all claims without evidence are false.