Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Facebook have been locked in a days-long feud over the company’s policy allowing candidates to lie in political ads. After Facebook declined to remove an ad by President Donald Trump that contained unfounded allegations against former Vice President Joe Biden, Warren last week ran her own Facebook ad falsely claiming the tech giant had endorsed Trump’s re-election campaign. The point of the lie, Warren said, was to “see just how far” the policy goes — arguing Facebook prioritizes profits over the truth.
Facebook has said it believes all speech by politicians should be protected from censorship. On Saturday, it doubled down on that stance in a rare tweet addressing Warren directly. The company compared itself to broadcasters regulated by the Federal Communications Commission, saying “we agree it’s better to let voters – not companies – decide.” The move opened the door to deeper scrutiny of Facebook’s role in handling political speech, particularly as it struggles to address weaknesses that made it a vector for Russian election interference in 2016.