Facebook says it is now much better prepared to fight election interference from Russia, China, Iran, and others in the run-up to the November 2020 US presidential election.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg says that three measures are now in place…
First, reports Reuters, the social network will show who owns Facebook pages. If the owner is a nation-state like Russia, that information will be revealed.
Second, it will more clearly label information that independent fact-checkers have found to be false.
Third, it will completely ban ads aimed at voter suppression.
However, others have pointed out that Facebook’s determination to fight election interference appears to have one important exception: where ad revenue is at stake. Facebook will not fact-check paid ads by politicians and political candidates.
Russia, China, and Iran have all denied election interference. However, the CIA, FBI, and NSA all agree that Russia interfered in the 2016 US presidential election with fake social media posts and other activities. A number of individuals were subsequently charged with criminal offenses as a direct result, and investigations continue to this day.
Last week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg defended the policy, saying social media had introduced transformative avenues for speech that should not be shut down.
That same day, the Biden campaign called for the removal of an ad run by a super PAC campaign group, not a politician, that it said contained false claims about the former vice president.
Facebook is also taking measures to guard against official political accounts being hacked.
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