Facebook Knows This Election Is Going to Be a Catastrophe

Facebook has claimed for year that it works to safeguard elections ( retrieve theWar Room?)—yet somehow all of that safeguarding has n’t quit voting misinformation fromproliferating , or theTrump campaignfrom taking an active role in spreading it . Keep in mind when you scan Mark Zuckerberg’slatest election - relate declaration : “ We wo n’t accept new political ads in the week before the election . ”

That ’s the character headline most media outlet haverun with , but do n’t be dissipate into thinking that this is anything resemble a muchhoped - forpolitical ad forbiddance . Facebook will continue to show hoi polloi antecedently purchase ad ( that may includelies ) , and theannouncementis less of a useful new insurance policy and more of an admission that Facebook anticipates a serial publication of outrageous but predictable upshot — and will let them fly with minimum interference .

For one , so long as billet ( seemingly ads or regular posts ) do n’t say that people will get the coronavirus from voting , hoi polloi can use the pandemic to “ discourage voting , ” with a coronavirus data link . No really : this is the actual language of Mark ’s bluff unexampled scheme :

Image: Drew Angerer (Getty Images)

We ’ll remove post that claim that the great unwashed will get COVID-19 if they take part in balloting , and we ’ll attach a link to important information about the coronavirus to stake that might utilise COVID-19 to discourage voting .

If a campaign or campaigner seek to delegitimize the election outcome , they can do so , with an informational label . Facebook will permit a certain candidate to claim triumph before the election outcome , only impart a label redirecting multitude to Reuters and the National Election Pool .

Facebook seems to be is ready for a widespread elector intimidation campaign and a scenario in which Trump attempts to preemptively lie title to the Oval Office via Facebook . Ina post , Mark Zuckerberg say that he is “ worried that with our nation so separate and election solution potentially taking day or even weeks to be finalized , there could be an increased danger of civic unrest across the country . ”

Image: Screengrab

Image: Screengrab

previse this , he say that Facebook is act on voter suppression ( which is already forbidden in its community criterion but alsorampant on the platform ) by continuing to remove explicit lies about voting requirements , and is “ expand this insurance policy to admit unquestioning misrepresentations about voting too , like ‘ I hear anybody with a equipment driver ’s license gets a ballot this year ’ , because it might misdirect you about what you need to do to get a ballot , even if that would n’t necessarily void your vote by itself . ”

You might imagine that , knowing the importance of this election and the scrutiny Facebook is under to fuck up less bad than in 2016 , the label would at tally useful setting , or at least bluntly state when the content of a Emily Post is an outright prevarication — but at least in the current implementation of these policies , you ’d be wrong . Here it is , in action , implemented just this aurora on Trump ’s usher to vote double :

The refrain used by so many societal medium fellowship — that “ just speech communication ” counter “ bad speech ” in some imaginary market of ideas — handily camouflage the game Trump is playing on the platforms . The only result is “ more speech , ” the only winners in that environment are the mass screaming the loudest , and the platform that get to wash their hands of any existent responsibleness .

Image: Screenshot

Image: Screenshot

“ It ’s important that campaign can run get out the vote campaigns , and I generally think the best antidote to bad manner of speaking is more voice communication , ” he wrote , “ but in the final days of an election there may not be enough clock time to repugn fresh claim . ”

Gizmodo has reached out to Facebook for comment and will update the post if we hear back .

Update 2025-01-28 12:43pm EST : Facebook emailed Gizmodo with an updated label on Trump ’s post . The label , pictured below , does not mention that voting double is illegal but notes that mail - in vote “ has a long chronicle of trustiness . ”

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