GOP Senate Leader Phil Berger Changes News Headlines On Facebook Posts, Violates Policy

Social media giant Facebook says a North Carolina politician is violating its policy. Several newspapers have complained that the office of Republican Senate leader Phil Berger is rewriting news headlines that prominently feature Democratic Governor Roy Cooper.

As an example, here's an original headline that appeared in the News & Observer: “In HB2 repeal effort, Gov. Cooper is silent on proposed nondiscrimination law.” The headline that appeared on Phil Berger's Facebook page read “Has Roy Cooper flip-flopped on HB2? Gov. Cooper now refusing to support men in women's bathrooms.”

That headline never appeared in the News & Observer, neither in print nor on the web. The person managing Senator Berger's official Facebook page used a little-known tool that can change headlines, giving the appearance that the headline originated with the newspaper. The News & Observer asked Berger to stop the practice. Now, Facebook says it is indeed a violation of its policy, saying users shouldn't use the platform to do anything "unlawful, misleading, malicious, or discriminatory." The company also deleted that article and several others, as well as the comments of Berger's Facebook followers.

A spokeswoman for Berger's office rejected the assertion that the posts are misleading. Amy Auth told the News & Observer that other page administrators have this same tool. She claims that the senator is being targeted unfairly and that the deleted comments represent a form of censorship. Auth did not respond to an interview request from WFDD by the deadline of this story.