Facebook has said it won’t remove a doctored video that makes Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi appear incoherent. One upload of the clip has been viewed more than 2.5 million times - and remains visible.

Axar.az reports citing foreign media.

"There’s a tension here,” Facebook said, between allowing free speech, and preventing the spread of fake news.

“We work hard to find the right balance between encouraging free expression and promoting a safe and authentic community, and we believe that reducing the distribution of inauthentic content strikes that balance.

"But just because something is allowed to be on Facebook doesn’t mean it should get distribution. In other words, we allow people to post it as a form of expression, but we’re not going to show it at the top of News Feed.”

Like so many of Facebook’s “evolving” policies, I predict Facebook will eventually change this stance and delete this clip, and others like it. YouTube, incidentally, has already taken that step.

But, it doesn’t matter. It’s too late. A pattern we have seen time and time again is now in in full motion - and shows little has been learned, or at least improved, when it comes to the manipulation of online platforms.