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FILE – In this April 14, 2021, file photo President Joe Biden speaks from the Treaty Room in the White House about the withdrawal of the remainder of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, Pool, File) As an NBC Sports reporter recently interviewed NASCAR driver Brandon Brown, she noted that the crowd could be heard chanting, “Let’s go, Brandon!” In reality, those NASCAR fans were booing the president: “F— Joe Biden.” A new anti-Biden slogan was born. Not far behind were claims that governments and social media companies are trying to censor the phrase. We’ve already debunked a claim that the Canadian government threatened to fire any employee who used “Let’s go Brandon” in communications. Now some social media users are claiming that Facebook is going to change its hate speech policy to include the phrase. “BREAKING: Facebook to change its hate speech policy to include posts that say ‘Let’s go Brandon. ‘This while thing has gone far enough. It’s offensive and really mean,’ said a top executive at the social media company,” a screenshot of a tweet says, misspelling “whole.” This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) The tweet that’s pictured comes from an account that notes it posts satire. But some people are unsure if it’s a joke. “Is this a joke?” one person replied. “I can’t find it anywhere and I literally can’t tell satire from reality anymore.” “Breaking news,” someone else wrote, sharing the screenshot on Facebook. “Whether or not this is true remains to be seen, but Facebook is reportedly changing their hate speech policy.” Facebook did not respond to PolitiFact’s questions about the claim, but the company told Reuters it didn’t change its hate speech policy to bar this phrase. Neither “Let’s go Brandon” nor “F— Joe Biden” violates the policy, Facebook said. The hate speech policy is online, and it doesn’t mention Biden or “Let’s go Brandon.” And there are no credible reports online that Facebook has changed or is going to change the policy to ban the phrase. Politifact rates the claims as False. Sources Facebook post, Oct. 20, 2021Facebook post, Oct. 19, 2021Tweet, Oct. 19, 2021 PolitiFact, Canada did not ban use of ‘Let’s go Brandon,’ as fake memo claimed, Oct. 20, 2021 Reuters, Fact Check – Facebook did not change its hate speech policy to include the phrase “Let’s go Brandon,” Oct. 22, 2021 Facebook, Hate speech policy, visited Oct. 22, 2021
Facebook post, Oct. 20, 2021Facebook post, Oct. 19, 2021Tweet, Oct. 19, 2021 PolitiFact, Canada did not ban use of ‘Let’s go Brandon,’ as fake memo claimed, Oct. 20, 2021 Reuters, Fact Check – Facebook did not change its hate speech policy to include the phrase “Let’s go Brandon,” Oct. 22, 2021 Facebook, Hate speech policy, visited Oct. 22, 2021