Dear friend,
Donald Trump's campaign has bought hundreds of Facebook ads to spread
misinformation about the November election, and Mark Zuckerberg is
refusing to stop him.^1 The ads use misleading statements and outright
myths to attack voting by mail.^2
Mark Zuckerberg said he won't fact check the blatantly false ads, and
Facebook even claimed one of Trump’s misleading ads "was appropriate."^3
Perhaps this is because Facebook's business model is based on them
profiting from misinformation like this, even if it might deter people
from voting. It’s time for our government to act.
[ [link removed] ]Sign the petition to tell Congress and the FTC: no voter suppression
for profit!
Mark Zuckerberg claims that private companies shouldn't be the "arbiters
of truth." But Facebook does have policies against misinformation, it just
applies them selectively. For example, when it comes to human rights
activists and journalists, Facebook has no problem taking down accounts
and suppressing content.^4
And when misinformation about coronavirus reached millions of people this
spring, Facebook only took down false posts after a study found that 40
percent of coronavirus claims that Facebook's own fact checkers had marked
as false remained on the site.^5
But Facebook exempts politicians' ads -- including Trump's -- from any
fact-checking. And even though Facebook claims it bans political ads that
discourage people from voting, the platform has done nothing to stop the
Trump campaign from publishing its harmful ads.
As Facebook employees wrote in a letter to Zuckerberg last October raising
concerns about this policy, "It doesn't protect voices, but instead allows
politicians to weaponize our platform by targeting people who believe that
content posted by political figures is trustworthy."^6
Zuckerberg has been very willing to give Trump free rein to incite
violence and spread misinformation, especially because Trump is a key
client for Facebook. During 2019, the Trump campaign spent nearly $20
million on over 200,000 Facebook ads.^7
Facebook's business model is based on misinformation and incendiary
content. It's how they make their money. We need government regulators
like the Federal Trade Commission as well as Congress to investigate and
take action to change Facebook's advertising and business models to stop
them from promoting misinformation.
The stakes are too high to let Zuckerberg's hypocrisy and Facebook's
hunger for profits run rampant. We must demand federal action. Will you
help?
[ [link removed] ]Add your name: Congress and the FTC must investigate, and stop Facebook
from earning money from election misinformation.
Thanks for taking action,
Julia and the team at Demand Progress
[ [link removed] ]DONATE
Sources:
1. Media Matters, "Facebook is letting the Trump campaign publish at least
529 ads with false claims of voter fraud," [ [link removed] ]May 19, 2020.
2. Brennan Center, "The False Narrative of Vote-by-Mail Fraud," [ [link removed] ]April
10, 2020.
3. Washington Post, "DNC blasts Facebook for 'unkept promises' ahead of ad
boycott meetings," [ [link removed] ]July 7, 2020.
4. NBC News, "'Facebook doesn't care': Activists say accounts removed
despite Zuckerberg's free-speech stance," [ [link removed] ]June 15, 2020.
5. Politico, "Facebook to tell millions of users they’ve seen 'fake news'
about coronavirus," [ [link removed] ]April 16, 2020.
6. New York Times, "Read the Letter Facebook Employees Sent to Mark
Zuckerberg About Political Ads," [ [link removed] ]October 28, 2019.
7. The Guardian, "One year inside Trump's monumental Facebook campaign,"
[ [link removed] ]January 28, 2020.
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