CNN Apologizes for Stunning and Hilarious Newsletter Mistake on Facebook’s Hate Speech … Policy

CNN apologized for the email subject line of a recent newsletter that omitted a critical word about Facebook’s policy changes on hate speech.

5 Things is a daily newsletter designed to keep subscribers up to date on the top news items of the day. The subject line of the October 12th newsletter promoted Facebook’s new policy on hate speech but omitted the last word. What initially went out read “Facebook expands its hate speech,” which means something very different than “Facebook expands its hate speech policy” as intended.

CNN’s newsletter administrators quickly acknowledged the error in a follow-up email, a screencap of which you can see below:

CNN has reported on Facebook’s announcement that the social media platform is expanding its hate speech policy in order to forbid any content related to Holocaust denial. In the past, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has argued against the removal of such content by saying he finds it offensive but didn’t want to restrict free speech. He announced that his new decision is based on an interest in counteracting rising trends of anti-semitism.

“I’ve struggled with the tension between standing for free expression and the harm caused by minimizing or denying the horror of the Holocaust,” said Zuckerberg. “My own thinking has evolved as I’ve seen data showing an increase in anti-Semitic violence, as have our wider policies on hate speech. Drawing the right lines between what is and isn’t acceptable speech isn’t straightforward, but with the current state of the world, I believe this is the right balance.”

CNN’s quick handling of the unfortunate mistake deserves praise. Longtime readers of Mediaite know well how typos, mistakes, and copy errors can happen.

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