Facebook announces efforts to safeguard 2020 election, fight fake news

The changes include stepped up enforcement to combat inauthentic behavior (CIB) on the site by cracking down on nation states and other groups that hide their identities to spread misinformation; a new way feature for politicians, candidates, and their teams to protect their accounts; clearer fact checking labels; and an all-out ban on ads meant to keep voters away from the polls.

“The bottom line here is that elections have changed significantly since 2016, and Facebook has changed too,” Zuckerberg said during a call with reporters, adding that the company has built systems to fight interference. He argued that Facebook’s efforts are more advanced than other businesses and governments fighting election interference.

<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Facebook's election preservation efforts have been a source of constant scrutiny for the company since U.S. intelligence agencies revealed in 2016&nbsp;that Russian agents deployed an army of fake accounts on the social network to sow discord among U.S. voters in the lead-up to the 2016 election.” data-reactid=”25″>Facebook’s election preservation efforts have been a source of constant scrutiny for the company since U.S. intelligence agencies revealed in 2016 that Russian agents deployed an army of fake accounts on the social network to sow discord among U.S. voters in the lead-up to the 2016 election.

According to Zuckerberg, Facebook has seen increased CIB efforts from Russia, Iran, and China — the company has taken down 50 clusters of fake accounts in 2019 so far. However, Zuckerberg added, there’s also an increase in domestic CIB campaigns and groups offering to help out CIB efforts to boost the reach of posts.

Increased transparency and clearer fact-checking labels

In addition to taking down inauthentic accounts, the company says it will increase the transparency of popular Pages, to prevent page owners from hiding their true identities.

“To address this, we’re adding more information about who is behind a Page, including a new “Organizations That Manage This Page” tab that will feature the Page’s “Confirmed Page Owner,” including the organization’s legal name and verified city, phone number or website,” Facebook’s Guy Rosen, Katie Harbath, Nathaniel Gleicher, and Rob Leathern said in a press release issued by Facebook.

Facebook is also offering a new service that helps politicians and candidates protect their accounts, as well as clearer fact-checking labels on Facebook and Instagram.

The new labels will blur images of posts that have been proven false through independent fact checkers. You’ll then be able to click through to the false post if you choose to do so.

Facebook says it is also banning ads that attempt to suppress voter turnout. For instance, ads that tell Facebook users that elections take place on the wrong day, or that they can vote via text, or that their votes don’t count for some reason.

<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Facebook has not always acknowledged that it can be used to influence voters. Shortly after the 2016 election, Zuckerberg dismissed claims that Russia's efforts had an impact on the way people voted. However, Zuckerberg&nbsp;eventually changed his stance&nbsp;as more evidence became available about Russia’s interference.” data-reactid=”33″>Facebook has not always acknowledged that it can be used to influence voters. Shortly after the 2016 election, Zuckerberg dismissed claims that Russia’s efforts had an impact on the way people voted. However, Zuckerberg eventually changed his stance as more evidence became available about Russia’s interference.

The company has since worked to prevent similar issues in elections around the world, including those in France, Germany, the European Union, and in South America.

Part of that includes Facebook working to take down large groups of fake accounts set up by the country’s military in an effort to spread fake news. Facebook says it’s been successful in taking down millions of fraudulent accounts, but the process has proven so fruitful for Russia, that other adversarial nations like Iran and North Korea have followed with similar efforts.

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Facebook is dealing with a slew of controversies at the moment including unfounded claims the platform has a bias against conservative voices. Presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) is actively pushing to break up the company, claiming it exerts too much power over the advertising industry and is stifling competition.