Facebook announced on Monday that it will enhance the battle against misinformation but there's a twist to this move. Chief Operating Officer (COO) Sheryl Sandberg said in a blog post that the social media platform will shut outposts discouraging people to vote.
According to Reuters, Facebook vowed to ban posts or ads that appear to promote voter suppression. These include false information regarding voting methods and the locations of polling stations. The ban against voter suppression will take effect by fall of this year.
The social media giant will also take down posts that are misinforming users about election dates and times as well as misrepresentations of candidates for the 2020 election. The move came amid increased scrutiny about the company's methods of handling wrong information and data about political events.
Facebook has received criticism not just for its privacy issues. Critics and users alike have questioned the company's capabilities in reducing misinformation in the platform as the U.S. elections draw near.
It is worth noting that the social media platform has been used multiple times to spread wrong information regarding various aspects of previous American elections. This time, Facebook said it will proactively move against malicious content relating to the elections.
While there are also many posts that spread misinformation related to national elections, Facebook said it will focus its new fight against wrong statements on ads since advertisements have specific goals and targets.
"We focused on ads because there is a targeted component in them. We recognize it as a political tactic, which is much more in line with voter suppression," Facebook public policy director, Neil Potts, explained.
Aside from strengthening its fort against wrong information, Facebook has also established a civil rights task force that should further review the platform's policies on content and posting systems.
Sandberg will lead the new body that aims to review whether Facebook's practices on several aspects of privacy and information are fair. Furthermore, the platform said it will recruit specialists in the field of civil rights to help with the goal of helping improve the social network's policies.
In the announcement, Sandberg said Facebook will continue to listen "to feedback" from experts in the civil rights community. Industry analysts said the company may have been pushed to create the reviewing body to look into accusations that the network is being used to promote white nationalism the wrong way.
Civil rights auditors have noted that Facebook's policy on white supremacy is "too narrow" and the platform should work harder to implement changes that should promote equality in the network.
