We cannot afford for Facebook to dictate the outcome of another
election!
[ [link removed] ][IMG]
Demand that Facebook take immediate action to reverse its policy on
political ads!
[ [link removed] ]Take Action
John,
It’s no secret or conspiracy theory that widespread disinformation on
Facebook contributed to the election of Donald Trump,^1 whose Presidency
has been defined by overt appeals to white nationalism and the rollback of
key protections and resources for Black communities. With the 2020
election already underway, it is imperative that Facebook own up to the
ways its platform is used to manipulate and suppress Black voters by
banning political ads with false content from its platform.
[ [link removed] ]Demand that Facebook defend our elections by banning manipulative and
deceptive political ads!
We know Trump lies all the time and because of Facebook’s reckless
political ad policy, he’s able to send out political ads with false, and
even defamatory, information to millions of Facebook users daily,
micro-targeting individual voters.^2 Under Facebook’s current policy,
candidates with the most money have the most influence, pushing their
agendas and disinformation onto vulnerable populations. Research on the
2016 election showed that Black people were most impacted by the
disinformation spread on Facebook.^3 Despite all we’ve learned since 2016,
Facebook is doubling down on their commitment to allow Trump and other
right-wing candidates to manipulate our elections.
This election cycle, it’s not just Trump we have to worry about. Any
candidate or paid influencer can spread misleading ads, and as long as ads
are labeled political, Facebook will approve them. Trump’s fellow New York
billionaire, Democratic candidate Michael Bloomberg, spent $45 million to
flood Facebook with 142,937 ads since November, some of which contained
false narratives of his Democratic running mates.^4 Facebook’s reckless
political ad policy is a direct threat to fair elections this year.
[ [link removed] ]Demand that Facebook defend our elections by rejecting political ads
with demonstrably false content!
Tech giants Google and Twitter have already put standards in place to
weaken the impact of false political ads. Google is limiting political
targeting,^5 and Twitter has banned political ads,^6 but Facebook is
making it easier for politicians to spread disinformation. Given their
base of 2.5 billion active users, Facebook's platform is the most
far-reaching and most harmful.
This political ad policy allows any politician to run ads mis-informing
voters about their opponents, promote blatant white nationalist
propaganda, and use fear-mongering to push Black and migrant communities
not to participate in the critically important 2020 Census. And even
though Facebook has stated that mis-informing Black voters about how and
when they can vote is against the rules, because they refuse to fact check
ads, it would be too late to stop a massive voter suppression campaign
rolled out right before election day.
Facebook is not only denying that voter suppression is a problem on the
platform, it’s openly welcoming it.
When trying to understand why Facebook would continue to allow this
clearly harmful ad policy, we learned that Trump and other party leaders
have pressured Facebook by making unproven claims of bias against
conservatives. These are the same conservatives who refused to impeach a
President accused of perjury, and who blocked every witness from
testifying in the impeachment trial. These are the same conservatives who
consistently choose partisan politics over human decency. They have a
stronghold over Facebook’s leadership. But Facebook is nothing without its
users.
That’s why we’re working with a coalition of civil rights organizations to
pressure Facebook to end this harmful policy. When we stand up together in
great numbers to demand protection from being targeted with false
information, Facebook cannot ignore us. We cannot afford for Facebook to
dictate the outcome of another election! We are in the midst of an intense
Democratic primary, with 9 months until the Presidential election. This
cannot wait.
[ [link removed] ]Sign the petition today to demand that Facebook take immediate action
to reverse its policy on political ads!
Until justice is real,
Brandi, Rashad, Arisha, Evan, Johnny, Jade, Future, Eesha, Samantha,
Marcus, FolaSade, Jennette, Cierra and the rest of the Color Of Change
team
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
References:
1. “How conservatives learned to wield power inside Facebook,” The
Washington Post, February 20, 2020,
[link removed]
2. “Mass propaganda used to be difficult, but Facebook made it easy,” The
Washington Post, February 14, 2020,
[link removed]
3. “Russian trolls tried to convince African Americans not to vote in
2016, US Senate says.” CNBC News, October 19, 2019,
[link removed]
4. “Part one of a Guardian investigation reveals the strategy and strange
decisions driving the campaign’s unprecedented ad blitz,” The
Guardian, February 21, 2020,
[link removed]
5. “Google announces new political-ads policies that limit targeting but
not all lies,” The Washington Post, November 20, 2019,
[link removed]
6. “Twitter to ban all political ads amid 2020 election uproar,” The
Washington Post, October 30, 2019,
[link removed]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
[ [link removed] ]Color Of Change is building a movement to elevate the voices of Black
folks and our allies, and win real social and political change. [ [link removed] ]Help
keep our movement strong.
<style type="text/css">
blockquote .original-only,
.WordSection1 .original-only
{
display: none !important;
}
</style>
<div class=".original-only">
You can unsubscribe from this mailing list at any time:
[link removed]
</div>
