In October 2019, Facebook said that attempts "to interfere with or suppress voting undermine our core values as a company," and therefore, it would prohibit "misrepresentation" or "whether a vote will be counted." Facebook explicitly said it would "remove this type of content regardless of who it’s coming from." That means the policy applies to Trump.

On Monday morning, Trump posted to Facebook that "Ballots being returned to States cannot be accurately counted." This is absolutely false. There is no evidence that ballots that are currently being returned to states will not be counted accurately. 

But Facebook did not remove the post. Instead, it attached an "information label" to Trump's post. The label initially said, "Visit the Voting Information Center for election resources and official updates."

Later, Facebook changed the information label. It now reads, "Both in person and voting by mail have a long history of trustworthiness and the same is predicted this year."

The new label makes clear that Facebook understands Trump is posting misinformation about whether votes are counted. But it is not fulfilling its stated policy to remove the post. 

Popular Information contacted Facebook about why it isn't enforcing its October 2019 policy and will update this post if Facebook responds.

This is a special update from the Popular Information newsletter. To get independent accountability journalism straight to your inbox, sign up: