Pic: Hindustan Times
Faizel Patel – 14/08/2020
With the US elections just a few months away, social media platforms have stepped up fight against misinformation with Facebook starting a hub to help users with poll-related resources and Twitter expanding rules against misinformation on mail-in ballots and early voting.
Reuters reports the move comes as online social networks have been drawing flak for what has been called a lax approach to fake news reports and misinformation campaigns, which many believe affected the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.
Twitter’s move will involve coming up with new policies “that emphasize accurate information about all available options to vote, including by mail and early voting.”
Twitter’s vice president for public policy in the Americas Jessica Herrera-Flanigan told Reuters in an email the social media company is focused on empowering every eligible person to register and vote through partnerships, tools and new policies.
Facebook, meanwhile, launched a Voting Information Center to help users with accurate and easy-to-find information about voting wherever they live.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed without evidence that voting by mail, which is expected to increase dramatically due to the coronavirus outbreak, is susceptible to large-scale fraud.
Many experts have said that routine methods and the decentralized nature of US elections make it very hard to interfere with mailed ballots.
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