Facebook Says It Isn't Stopping Presidential Hopefuls From Declaring Premature Victory In States

Facebook Inc FB will allow the presidential candidates, or any other person, to declare state-wise victories for the presidential election before votes are counted, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

What Happened: The Mark Zuckerberg-led company said its policy barring declaration of premature victory only applied to the overall results and not individual states, according to the Journal.

The social media giant reportedly issued the clarification after the Trump campaign and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declared Trump's victory in the state, even though he had not been declared victorious by media outlets.

“A policy that doesn't apply to individual states is not very useful in a contest that might come down to one state,” Alex Stamos, Facebook’s former security chief told the Journal. 

Why It Matters: In September, Facebook had said it would reject advertisements from both Trump and his Democrat rival Joe Biden, where they claimed victories before the election results were declared, reported The Verge. 

The Menlo Park, California-based social media firm said it would label posts from candidates or campaigns that declared victory prematurely, CNBC reported.

Twitter Inc TWTR also reportedly said it would label tweets that made claims of victory before the election is officially called.

Facebook has failed to contain misinformation in political advertising as campaigns exploited a loophole in the firm’s system to repost advertisements pulled down by it for being inaccurate, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Price Action: Facebook shares closed nearly 1.5% higher at $265.30 on Tuesday and fell 0.3% in the after-hours session.

See Also: Twitter Restricts Trump's Tweet On Election Night