CfA's September 25, 2020 Newsletter

Our Latest Work:

• CfA Files Complaint with Federal Authorities Calling for Investigation of HUD Official for Potential Hatch Act Violations: On Monday, CfA filed a complaint with the Office of Special Counsel (OSC), the Inspector General of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) calling for an investigation into whether HUD Regional Administrator Lynne Patton violated the Hatch Act by using the authority and resources of her office to aid in Donald Trump’s re-election campaign. (Press Release, Letter)
• TTP Investigation: Facebook Leans on States to Monitor Election Disinformation, but Provides Insufficient Tools: On Wednesday, CfA and TTP released a report revealing that Facebook has been encouraging states to monitor for election disinformation on the platform, but is providing them with tools that aren’t sufficient to complete the task.
  • Read the report.

What We're Reading:

• How the US keeps poor people from accessing abortion: "Today, abortion access largely depends on the politics of the state you live in. Because of the Hyde Amendment, it also depends on how much money you have. Banning federal funding for abortion services primarily affects people who rely on Medicaid for their health care: people who are living close to the poverty line in the US or are disabled. This has the effect of preventing some of the country’s most vulnerable people from accessing abortion services, since they are the least likely to be able to afford an out-of-pocket expense." (Vox, September 24)
• Facebook Oversight Board confirms it plans to launch ahead of U.S. election: "Facebook’s much-anticipated Oversight Board has confirmed that it is planning to launch ahead of the U.S. election on Nov. 3 after being criticized for a perceived lack of action. The board, which has been nicknamed Facebook’s “Supreme Court”, will review appeals made by Facebook and Instagram users who don’t agree with content moderation decisions, like posts being taken down or labeled as misinformation. It will have the power to overrule decisions made by Facebook’s moderators and executives, including chief executive Mark Zuckerberg." (CNBC, September 23)
• Trump Nominates Former Nunes Aide to Serve as Intel Community Inspector General: "President Trump on Wednesday nominated Allen Souza, a former aide to Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), to serve as the inspector general of the U.S. intelligence community, where he would replace an official the president ousted in April. Souza would permanently replace Michael Atkinson, whom Trump fired over his handling of the whistleblower complaint that eventually triggered the president’s impeachment last year." (The Hill, September 23)

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