Facebook says it’s ‘not deaf’ to criticism. But it will still let politicians lie in ads

Facebook said Thursday that it was “not deaf” to criticism of its policy allowing politicians to spread lies on its platform. But it will not change its rules.

The company faced widespread criticism, including from some of its own employees, last year for failing to fact-check ads from politicians — a policy Democrats say will help reelect President Donald Trump.

In a blog post, Rob Leathern, who oversees Facebook’s political ad library, said the company was not making any major revisions to its policies on political ads.

Leathern did however ask political leaders to establish new rules that would govern digital political advertising.

“Ultimately, we don’t think decisions about political ads should be made by private companies, which is why we are arguing for regulation that would apply across the industry,” he wrote.

“In the absence of regulation, Facebook and other companies are left to design their own policies,” he added.

The company also announced some new ways for users to see what political ads are running on its platform and some new controls about how they can be targeted with ads.