Facebook was examining fake media policy right before Pelosi video, report says
Facebook had set up a working group to form policy on manipulated media right before the doctored Pelosi video hit, a report says.
- I've been covering technology and mobile for 12 years, first as a telecommunications reporter and assistant editor at ZDNet in Australia, then as CNET's West Coast head of breaking news, and now in the Thought Leadership team.
The video of Nancy Pelosi was manipulated to make her sound intoxicated during a speech about Donald Trump.
Facebook had told 60 staffers that it was looking into its policy on manipulated media just two days before the doctored video of Nancy Pelosi hit the social network, according to a report.
On May 23, videos that were doctored to make House Speaker Pelosi appear like she was drunkenly slurring her words were spread across Facebook.
Facebook refused to take down the viral video.
But during a meeting on May 21, Facebook staffers said they had "convened a working group to evaluate whether or not it needed an additional, more specific policy that tackled manipulated media," MarketWatch reported Thursday.
Pelosi, a Democrat from California, on Wednesday slammed the social network.
"We have said all along, poor Facebook, they were unwittingly exploited by the Russians," Pelosi told KQED News Wednesday. "I think wittingly, because right now they are putting up something that they know is false. I think it's wrong."
"[Facebook is] lying to the public ... I think they have proven -- by not taking down something they know is false -- that they were willing enablers of the Russian interference in our election," she said.
Her speech, originally made at a Center for American Progress event, had accused President Donald Trump of being part of a "cover-up." The video was then found by the Washington Post to have been slowed to around 75% of its original speed, with the pitch of her voice also altered.
The doctored videos went viral after being posted to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, with one version on Facebook being viewed over 1.4 million times and shared 30,000 times.
Monika Bickert, Facebook VP for Product Policy and Counterterrorism, last week told CNN that "it's important for people to make their own informed choice for what to believe."
"Our job is to make sure we are getting them accurate information," she said.
Facebook didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
