Don’t Trust Facebook With Voting Information
The 2020 election was supposed to be controversial no matter what, and it’s no surprise that tons of misinformation is spreading around Facebook from those who are convinced that (intelligent) systems like mail-order voting somehow perpetuate some giant fraud.
You probably already know which of your friends are trading BS on social media, but you probably didn’t realize how many allies they have. Nearly half of all voting email messages contain false or misleading information, according to a recent ProPublica report . Some accounts fuel anger among followers over allegations of vote tampering, while others seek to mislead voters into believing that mail or even online voting options are available when they are not.
To learn more about voting, watch the video below:
How bad is it?
Facebook has been preparing for the 2020 elections for some time now. The social media giant hopes to register four million voters ahead of this year’s elections and has made changes to stop the spread of misinformation on the platform. Facebook advertisements and news posts are now subject to fact checking and other stringent requirements. The company says it could even turn off political ads entirely in the run-up to November – one can only dream of .
Unfortunately, these efforts do little against endless political posts spreading lies. Unlike ads and headlines, regular posts and comments are not actively fact-checked, which means anyone can post whatever they want, as long as it doesn’t violate Facebook’s content policies. And boy, right?
The ProPublica report includes examples of misleading facts, up-to-date statistics, and outright lies promoted by people of all political views in Facebook posts. Many messages come from groups and individuals with thousands, and in some cases millions, of subscribers. It’s a sobering read, but another reminder that you can’t believe everything you read on the Internet.
What should you do?
If you are still on Facebook and post political posts, first of all: may the Force be with you. Second, be wary of any voting-related information you see posted this year. Check everything with facts. A quick Internet search or phone call to your state government is all you need to confirm if an email voting option is offered where you live. As far as online voting options go, here’s a simple summary: they don’t exist.
You should also contribute and report any publications that spread blatant lies. There is no guarantee that flagged posts will be removed, but particularly egregious posts are likely to be removed, and additional disciplinary action may be taken against accounts for repeated violations.
Honestly, the best approach is not to use Facebook posts as your primary news source. Generally. Is always.
In fact, you can block all political ads, messages and media on the platform. There are third party browser add – ons that can help . On the other hand, it looks like politics controversy and headline excitement are the main reasons people still use Facebook, so if you really want to avoid these political clashes, you can simply stop using it.