The company announced late Thursday temporary measures to limit the spread of false and possibly dangerous content, hours after it took down a fast-growing group called “Stop the Steal” that was organizing vote-counting protests across the country. .
The new measures are the most aggressive steps yet by the social media company to monitor the debate over the election results, and will disrupt the platform in ways both noticeable and invisible to users.
A new feature will be requiring users wishing to share election-related material to click on an ad that encourages them to visit Facebook’s voting information center, a form of “friction” that serves as a brake on the spread of problematic posts. A major change behind the scenes is likely to occur as the company adjusts the algorithms that rate and classify content.
Facebook will restrict the broadcast of live videos on its platforms and reduce the likelihood that users will see content that its algorithms classify as possible misinformation. The steps are similar to the emergency measures the company has implemented in what it calls “countries at risk” such as Myanmar, Ethiopia and Sri Lanka.
The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Facebook was developing the measures as part of its planning for worst-case scenarios related to the US elections.
“While many of these claims have low participation on our platform, we are taking additional temporary measures, which we have previously discussed, to prevent this content from reaching more people,” the company said in a statement. “These include downgrades for content on Facebook and Instagram that our systems predict may be misinformation, including discredited claims about voting. We are also limiting the distribution of live videos that may be election related on Facebook.”
Facebook’s moves on Thursday are an effective acknowledgment that the platform was spiraling out of control, said Renée DiResta of the Stanford University Internet Observatory.
“This is indicative that we have moved into a space that many of us predicted, a free-for-all in which wild accusations are being made that elections are being stolen” by former Vice President Joe Biden, he said, adding that Much of the misinformation about the vote count came from prominent public figures with large following.
These circumstances have forced Facebook to balance its desire to accommodate free speech around a political event with the risk of potential harm that could arise from allegations of election theft, he said, which has already sparked clashes. angry outside the vote counting centers. .
Many Republicans took Facebook’s actions as further proof that the company censors conservative speech.
The group “Stop the Steal”, which grew to more than 361,000 members in 24 hours, was dedicated to protesting the administration of the elections, which organizers allege has been marred by widespread electoral fraud. While President Trump has repeatedly made the same claim, news organizations and fact-checking groups have found no support for the impeachment to date. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency tweeted early Thursday about the strong safeguards in place to ensure a fair and accurate election.
Facebook’s decision to remove the group was “in line with the exceptional measures we are taking during this period of heightened tension,” a spokesperson said. “The group organized around the delegitimization of the electoral process, and we saw worrying calls for violence from some members of the group.”
A pro-Trump organization called Women for America First had created and operated the Facebook group, according to its home page before it was deactivated.
“It’s absolutely out of place for Facebook to selectively choose to shut down our group,” said Kylie Jane Kremer, director of Women for America First, adding that Facebook is “selectively enforcing its new rules to silence conservatives.”
In addition to Ms. Kremer and others, two leading “Stop the Steal” organizers, Dustin Stockton and Jennifer Lawrence, are listed on Facebook as executives of a conservative media site called America First Projects.
Stockton said the Facebook group was populated by “common political hyperbole” and did not see any calls for violence. He said Facebook’s actions threaten to “marginalize and radicalize people who are already pressured in a way that causes real harm.” . “
Ms Lawrence’s Facebook profile says that she previously worked as a communications director for We Build the Wall Inc., a charity that US prosecutors alleged in August as part of a plan to divert hundreds of thousands of dollars from donors. , which led to multiple arrests. She did not respond to a request for comment.
A spokesperson for Twitter Inc. said the short message company has been monitoring the #StopTheSteal hashtag and related tweets since Tuesday morning and has taken action on some messages that violate its rules so as not to interfere with the elections.
The closure of “Stop the Steal” was highly discussed within Facebook prior to its action Thursday, according to people familiar with the discussions. A person familiar with the internal discussions said they were elevated to “the highest levels of the company.”
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said that concern over election-related violence warrants stricter speech than the company prefers, but that he reluctantly imposes restrictions.
“In times of social upheaval, our impulse is often to back down on free expression,” Zuckerberg said in a speech last year. “I believe in giving people a voice because, at the end of the day, I believe in people.”
The group “Stop the Steal” was used at least in part to organize protests against the handling of the vote count in various parts of the country. The group used Facebook’s events feature to list details of at least 14 demonstrations, including one in downtown Raleigh. NC, Friday Many of the events used the word peaceful in their descriptions.
A rally, called “Stop The Steal, Harrisburg, PA” occurred shortly before the group was removed from office. According to photos and live videos posted on Twitter and Facebook, the protest consisted of a small crowd, including some children, gathered in front of the Pennsylvania State Capitol making speeches and holding “Stop the Steal” signs.
—Emily Glazer and Georgia Wells contributed to this article.
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