(PM.) Reports emerged on X on Monday indicating that Mark Zucerkberg’s Facebook had been censoring photos of Donald Trump, fist raised, face bloodied, after the assassination attempt against him. The photos were censored by third-party fact checkers who claimed that the photo had been altered. Facebook since admitted to censoring the photos in error.
The iconic photo, snapped by a photographer for the Associated Press, had been viral on social media before a copy of the photo was edited and circulated, which showed, erroneously, that Secret Service agents were “smiling as they surround[ed] him after the shooting.” While that photo was censored, in the aftermath, the original was censored as well.
BREAKING: Facebook is now censoring the iconic image of Trump’s defiant fist
It’s now flagged as MISINFORMATION pic.twitter.com/ePUl5kuMw6
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) July 29, 2024
After backlash, Meta admitted that the warning was incorrectly applied and was meant only to apply to the altered image showing Secret Service agents smiling. The fact checkers, and their AI software, had determined that all images that resembled the AP original photo should be removed.
“This was an error. This fact check was initially applied to a doctored photo showing the secret service agents smiling, and in some cases our systems incorrectly applied that fact check to the real photo. This has been fixed and we apologize for the mistake,” communications director for Facebook Dani Lever said.
This was an error. This fact check was initially applied to a doctored photo showing the secret service agents smiling, and in some cases our systems incorrectly applied that fact check to the real photo. This has been fixed and we apologize for the mistake. https://t.co/y613GuuJpV
— Dani Lever (@Dani_Lever) July 29, 2024
