Social media giant Facebook has said that it is working towards enhancing its platform ahead of the US presidential election that are scheduled to be held on November 3. With just two months left until the election, Facebook is taking more steps to encourage “voting, miminimize misinformation and reduce the likelihood of post-election “civil unrest.”
The company on Thursday said it will take some very crucial steps this year before the elections such as restrict new political ads in the week before the election, remove posts that convey misinformation about COVID-19 and voting. It said it will also attach links to official results to posts from candidates and campaigns that declare victory prematurely.
“This election is not going to be business as usual. We all have a responsibility to protect our democracy,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a post on Thursday. “That means helping people register and vote, clearing up confusion about how this election will work and taking steps to reduce the chances of violence and unrest.”
Facebook has been criticized time and again for letting political campaign run on its platform. It has also been accused of not fact-checking information that’s been provided to the general public.
The Facebook CEO has assured that the process of containing the false information would be enhanced this time with the introduction of new policies.
While activists have welcomed the new policies, they have also doubted Facebook’s potential to curb the misinformation.
Meanwhile, misinformation spread through social media has become a genuine concern for the United States with President Donald Trump himself posting false information related to covid drug among others.
With the nation being strongly divided over presidential candidates, the announcement of results may take weeks to be finalized, Zuckerberg said there could be unrest during this period.
Meanwhile, Civil rights group has urged the Facebook CEO and other Facebook executives to make changes in the Thursday announcement.
“These are really significant steps but everything is going to depend on the enforcement,” said Vanita Gupta, who was head of the Obama Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and now leads the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. “I think they’re going to be tested on it pretty soon.”
Facebook had previously attracted backlash for its ads policy that said they cannot bar Trump from posting false information about voting, citing freedom of expression as the reason.
