Cass R. Sunstein, Columnist

Facebook Can Fight Lies in Political Ads

The company may not want to operate as the fact police. But if it doesn’t, the result will be truly Orwellian.

October 9, 2019 at 12:00 PM UTC

Cass R. Sunstein is a former Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is the author of “The Cost-Benefit Revolution” and a co-author of “Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness.”

Facebook’s misinformation “war room.”
Photographer: Noah Berger/AFP/Getty Images

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All over the world, truth is in trouble. What are we going to do about that?

Unfortunately, Facebook’s new policy on political advertisements is a step in the wrong direction.1 By exempting “politicians” from its third-party fact-checking program, designed to reduce the spread of lies and falsehoods in ads, the company is essentially throwing up its hands. With some urgency, it should be seeking new ways to reduce the risk that lies and falsehoods will undermine the democratic process.