| Disinformation is running rampant on Facebook and our democracy is at stake. Tell Mark Zuckerberg: #DoYourJob.
Friend,
There are just 10 days to go before the election and Facebook is still failing to meet the moment.
The company takes a hands-off approach to content moderation even as its algorithms amplify the most incendiary, racist and violent posts. This problem has spun out of control: In the last few weeks, the platform has made headlines as a space where a right-wing militia group organized the attempted kidnapping of a state governor and disinformation in Spanish has proliferated.1
But it doesn’t have to be like this.
Facebook has the resources and the technology it needs to take immediate action that will increase community safety and protect the electoral process.
Tell Mark Zuckerberg: It’s past time to #DoYourJob.
In the coming days, millions of people will make the following demands of Facebook: Ban events, groups, paid ads and organic content that directly, or with coded language, incites violence. This ban should cover President Trump’s posts. Pause group recommendations until the election results are certified. Demote the top-100 misinformation super-spreader groups. Correct the record on viral misinformation so those exposed receive alerts with fact-checked corrections. Hire, support and adequately train more in-house content moderators so charities, NGOs and individuals do not have to keep doing Facebook's moderation job for them. Ensure that you are providing resources and training to staff to stop the similar spread of viral Spanish-language disinformation, particularly disinformation that contains anti-Black and racist tropes. Join the call for Facebook to do its job and help cut off disinformation before it destroys our democracy.
Thanks for all that you do,
Candace, Nilda and the rest of the Free Press Action team
freepress.net
1. “False Political News in Spanish Pits Latino Voters Against Black Lives Matter,” The New York Times, Oct. 21, 2020 |
