Just two months before the presidential elections, Facebook announced on Thursday measures to encourage voting, minimize misinformation and reduce the likelihood of "civil unrest" after voting.
The company assured that it will
restrict political ads in the week leading up to the elections
and will
remove posts that convey misinformation about COVID-19
and voting.
In addition, you will attach links to the official results to the publications of the candidates and campaigns that declare premature victories.
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"
This election is not going to be business as usual
. We all have a responsibility to protect our democracy," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a post Thursday.
"That means helping people
register and vote,
clearing up confusion about how these elections will work, and taking steps to reduce the chances of violence and riots," he added.
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Although Facebook will prohibit politicians from posting new election ads in the week before the election, they
can still run existing ads
and change the way they are targeted.
Ads with obvious misinformation about voting policies
and the
coronavirus pandemic will
also
be removed
.
Additionally, users will
only be able to broadcast articles to a maximum of five people in Messenge
r, the application for sending Facebook messages.
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The company will also work with the Reuters news agency to provide
official election results.
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After Russia's attempts to interfere in the 2016 presidential elections, Facebook, Google, Twitter and other companies announced the implementation of security measures.
These include
removing posts, groups, and accounts
that engage in "coordinated inauthentic behavior" and
strengthening verification procedures for
political ads.
Last year, Twitter completely banned political ads.
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Zuckerberg said that Facebook had removed more than 100 networks around the world that were involved in such interference in recent years.
"This week alone, we removed a 13-account, two-page network that was trying to mislead Americans and amplify the divide," he said.
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But experts and Facebook's own employees believe that these measures are not enough to stop the spread of disinformation, including from politicians and in the form of edited videos.
Facebook has long been criticized for failing to review political ads.
With information from The Associated Press.
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