Facebook, Twitter step up fight against misinformation on U.S. elections

[August 13, 2020]  By Kanishka Singh

(Reuters) - Social media platforms stepped up fight against misinformation on the U.S. elections, 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.

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."

"We're focused on empowering every eligible person to register and vote through partnerships, tools and new policies," Jessica Herrera-Flanigan, Twitter's vice president for public policy in the Americas, told Reuters in an email.

Facebook, meanwhile, launched a Voting Information Center to help users with accurate and easy-to-find information about voting wherever they live.

The company said in a blog it was also speaking with officials about misinformation surrounding election results as an emerging threat.

Twitter said it would roll out measures on new tools, policies and voting resources in the next month. It is exploring how to expand its "civic integrity policies" to address mischaracterizations of mail-in voting and other procedures.

The Twitter App loads on an iPhone in this illustration photograph taken in Los Angeles, California, U.S., July 22, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake

The finer details of the step are still being finalized.

U.S. 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.

The process is not new in the United States — nearly one in four voters cast 2016 presidential ballots that way.

Many experts have said that routine methods and the decentralized nature of U.S. elections make it very hard to interfere with mailed ballots.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Gerry Doyle and Arun Koyyur)

[© 2020 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2020 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.