US tech giant Facebook may introduce emergency measures to regulate viral content in the event of election-related conflicts and unrest in the United States, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing informed sources.
According to the media, citing sources, Facebook intends to calm possible violence with tools that were developed especially for so-called countries at risk.
(Click here for full coverage of the 2020 U.S. elections)
“We have spent years building for safer and more secure elections. … We have applied lessons from previous elections, hired experts and built new teams with experience in different areas to prepare for various scenarios, ”Facebook spokesman Andy Stone was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
(Read: Trump and Biden will step up the campaign in the last week before the election)
The tools, which Facebook plans to implement, were previously designed for “at risk” countries and have already been used in Myanmar and Sri Lanka. They help contain the spread of viral content and lower the threshold for the identification of potentially inflammatory posts.
Facebook will implement such measures only in the event of a critical situation that could cause election-related violence, the newspaper wrote, noting that if the company decides to use those tools, they will transform the information millions of Americans receive.
(Read: Almost 59 million Americans have already voted, but waiting for the poll result could be long, the report says)
The Wall Street Journal added that this plan has been criticized by some members of the Facebook team and representatives of the Republican and Democratic parties, who believe that the implementation of content regulation measures will hamper political discussion.
The US presidential election, in which Trump faces Democratic candidate Joe Biden, is scheduled for November 3. Early voting has already started in some states. (ANI / Sputnik)
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