Fb’s plan to stop election misinformation: Permitting it, principally

A casually dressed man speaks in front a stylized padlock symbol.

Enlarge / Mark Zuckerberg talking at Fb’s F8 developer summit in 2018. (credit score: JOSH EDELSON/AFP through Getty Photos)

Though it might really feel just like the campaigns have been occurring without end and can proceed without end, linear time inexorably marches on and we’re, finally, precisely two months away from the 2020 US presidential election. The logistics alone are extra sophisticated than ever this yr, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and voters across the nation are more likely to encounter issues of 1 form or one other.

Into this milieu we now add Fb. The corporate has a foul observe report of getting used as a device of misinformation and manipulation in relation to elections. In a Fb put up at the moment, firm CEO Mark Zuckerberg outlined an entire bunch of latest steps the corporate might be taking to “shield our democracy” this yr. A few of these measures, alas, really feel like shutting the barn door when the horse left so way back you forgot you ever even had one.

“This election is just not going to be enterprise as standard,” Zuckerberg started, precisely. Misinformation about voting, the election, and each candidates for the presidency is already rampant on Fb and each different media platform, and it is being unfold by actors each overseas and home. So what’s Fb going to do about it? “Serving to individuals register and vote, clearing up confusion about how this election will work, and taking steps to scale back the possibilities of violence and unrest,” Zuckerberg promised.

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