May 22, 2020
Social media companies have repeatedly resisted being arbiters of truth. And yet, as their services have been systematically exploited in harmful and manipulative ways, they have increasingly carved out categories of content for fact-checking. This report documents how Facebook and Instagram, Reddit, Snapchat, Twitter, and YouTube use both internal teams and third-party companies to fact check four categories of political content: democratic processes, manipulated media, tragic events, and health.
To illustrate these policies, we take up six real examples of false information to show how each platform has responded, or would respond, depending on who posted the content.
As researchers investigate what types of misinformation are most common online, why people share this content, and the effects misinformation potentially has, this report documents where major social media platforms are currently willing to step in (and where they are not) in the domain of politics.
Standalone Policy Comparisons
Below are simplified versions of the five side-by-side platform policy comparison tables from the report. As the report discusses, the exact definitions of each of these categories vary from platform to platform and are typically very narrow. That context should be considered when using these tables.
General Platform False Information Policies Applied to Political Issues