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Friend — For decades, big tobacco companies had hard evidence that their products caused cancer — but they lied and spread disinformation about the health impacts of smoking, putting their profits above people’s lives.
Now — thanks to whistleblower Frances Haugen — we are seeing Facebook pull the same sorts of tricks. When she discovered that Facebook knew exactly how its platform was harming millions of users, Haugen realized that she had to leak internal documents so that “no one can question that this is real.”
We are disgusted. But we’re not surprised. Whether it’s Big Tobacco or Big Tech, the “profit over people” scheme doesn’t work for us. We’ve learned that Facebook fans the flames of disinformation to promote the most destructive content to its users. That business model costs lives when Facebook helps push COVID disinformation — and it can cost us our democracy.
Frances Haugen’s revelations have made this a pivotal moment in the fight against disinformation. With all donations up to $10,000 being DOUBLED, we need your help to put pressure on Congress and bad actors like Facebook that put profits ahead of our lives.
Donate by Oct. 31 to have 2x the impact in the fight against disinformation, and for access to accurate news and information.
Over the past couple of years — even while Trump was still in office — Free Press Action has amassed a remarkable record of moving meaningful legislation through Congress. Thanks to our work on the House’s HEROES Act, the December 2020 COVID-19 relief bill and the historic broadband-affordability measures in the infrastructure bill, our team is known and respected in the halls of Congress.
Thousands of people have already signed the petition we released in the wake of Haugen’s game-changing interview on 60 Minutes to demand that Congress upend Big Tech’s hate-and-lies-for-profit business model through new legislation and regulation.
But we are able to bring about change only because of people like you who donate to provide us with essential resources. With every dollar you give being doubled to make TWICE the difference in the fight against disinformation, will you donate today to help Free Press Action make the most of this critical moment?
Here is just some of what we learned from Facebook’s leaked documents:
- In 2018, the company launched a new algorithm that it knew promoted objectionable or harmful content — just two years after Russian disinformation on Facebook played a meaningful role in the election of Donald Trump.
- After the 2020 presidential election, Facebook dissolved its Civic Integrity unit — and months later, we saw disinformation drive the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.
- Facebook takes action on only 0.6% of violent or inciting content, even though it knows the Myanmar military used Facebook to launch a genocide.
It could not be more clear that disinformation is a defining battle of our times — and it could not be more obvious that we can’t trust Facebook to take any meaningful action to protect its users or our democracy.
We need your help to make the most of this pivotal moment to push for real action from Congress — and with our $10,000 match challenge, your gift today will go TWICE as far in the fight against disinformation. Donate today!
Thank you so much for your support,
Nora and the rest of the Free Press Action team
freepress.net
P.S. We will never take a single dollar from business, government or political parties. Our independence is simply too important. This means that every action Free Press Action takes against disinformation is possible only because of support from people like you. Donate now while every gift up to $10,000 will be DOUBLED.
Photo: The National Guard 
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