Facebook launched, what it calls, “the largest voting information effort in US history“. This campaign was designed to get about 4 million more people to register to vote for the 2020 US elections. This will run on Facebook and Instagram.
The new “Voting Information Center” will inform people how and where to vote, as well as offering information on how to register to vote and how to vote by mail. Users can also turn on alerts that will remind them to vote and direct them to polling stations come November.
Facebook was accused that during the 2016 US election it didn’t do enough to spread misinformation and fake news. Now, the company is trying to shift responsibility to the public at large by letting users “turn off” political ads they don’t like.
Users can go to Ad Preferences, and choose which category of ads they want to see less of, or directly from the news feed by clicking on the post and selecting to not see similar posts in the future.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told USA Today that although ”many people want us to moderate and remove more of [politicians’] content,” he believes “accountability only works if we can see what those seeking our votes are saying.”
So instead of removing misinformation, which would probably mean a loss in revenue, the company wants to focus on registering voters. Zuckerberg outlines “Voting is voice. It’s the single most powerful expression of democracy, the best way to hold our leaders accountable and how we address many of the issues our country is grappling with.”
Facebook has been long criticized over its policies on political speech, which allows politicians to lie in paid adverts to users. Twitter, on the other hand, is taking a different approach and banned all political ads last year. CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted what seems to be an attack on Facebook’s policies, saying “[I]t‘s not credible for us to say: ‘We’re working hard to stop people from gaming our systems to spread misleading info, buuut if someone pays us to target and force people to see their political ad…well…they can say whatever they want!’’
Facebook seems to think that the fact that users will be able to turn off “all social issues, electoral or political ads from candidates, Super PACs or other organizations that have the “Paid for by” political disclaimer on them.” is sufficient. The same option for political ads will be available on Instagram.
People expected Facebook to not repeat the same mistakes it made during the 2016 elections, and it appears the company isn’t taking any real steps to stop misinformation. It will be up to the users to decide which ads to block and what information is worthy to listen to. The good thing Facebook is doing is trying to register more people to vote, which is the most important thing in the democratic process.
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