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posted by martyb on Tuesday August 25 2020, @06:36AM   Printer-friendly
from the why-wait-until-AFTER-the-election? dept.

Facebook Braces Itself for Trump to Cast Doubt on Election Results:

Facebook spent years preparing to ward off any tampering on its site ahead of November's presidential election. Now the social network is getting ready in case President Trump interferes once the vote is over.

Employees at the Silicon Valley company are laying out contingency plans and walking through postelection scenarios that include attempts by Mr. Trump or his campaign to use the platform to delegitimize the results, people with knowledge of Facebook's plans said.

Facebook is preparing steps to take should Mr. Trump wrongly claim on the site that he won another four-year term, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Facebook is also working through how it might act if Mr. Trump tries to invalidate the results by declaring that the Postal Service lost mail-in ballots or that other groups meddled with the vote, the people said.

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's chief executive, and some of his lieutenants have started holding daily meetings about minimizing how the platform can be used to dispute the election, the people said. They have discussed a "kill switch" to shut off political advertising after Election Day since the ads, which Facebook does not police for truthfulness, could be used to spread misinformation, the people said.

The preparations underscore how rising concerns over the integrity of the November election have reached social media companies, whose sites can be used to amplify lies, conspiracy theories and inflammatory messages. YouTube and Twitter have also discussed plans for action if the postelection period becomes complicated, according to disinformation and political researchers who have advised the firms.

[...] The preparations underscore how rising concerns over the integrity of the November election have reached social media companies, whose sites can be used to amplify lies, conspiracy theories and inflammatory messages. YouTube and Twitter have also discussed plans for action if the postelection period becomes complicated, according to disinformation and political researchers who have advised the firms.


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  • (Score: 0, Flamebait) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday August 25 2020, @01:18PM (18 children)

    by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Tuesday August 25 2020, @01:18PM (#1041569) Journal

    So you've dropped any pretense of being an even remotely halfway decent human being and are supporting that fat sack of Cheeto turds now? Lovely.

    --
    I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
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  • (Score: 0, Offtopic) by hemocyanin on Tuesday August 25 2020, @01:42PM (10 children)

    by hemocyanin (186) on Tuesday August 25 2020, @01:42PM (#1041581) Journal

    Oh right -- because a war monger in bed with the banks with dementia who'll bow out in favor of the person who kept people in prison beyond their sentences to enslave them and who tried to kill a person through the state death penalty apparatus by hiding exculpatory info and fighting against DNA tests that could prove his innocence, represents the epitome of progressive values.

    At some point, nostalgia for who the Democrats were pre-Clinton has to burn out.

    • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday August 25 2020, @03:27PM (9 children)

      by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Tuesday August 25 2020, @03:27PM (#1041648) Journal

      It kind of sounds like you haven't seen any of the posts in which I keep saying things to the effect of "Every president since and including Nixon, maaaaaaybe excepting Carter, should have swung from a rope?" Or "Clinton's "welfare reform" did more to hurt poor people than anything the GOP had done to that point." Or "Obama was right of Reagan and had a worse civil rights record?"

      You need to stop assuming anyone who opposes the GOP's nation-destroying malignance is a fan of the Democrats. I do hope the Ds win, but for the same reason I'd rather drown in stale beer than diarrhea.

      --
      I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
      • (Score: 1) by hemocyanin on Tuesday August 25 2020, @05:13PM (8 children)

        by hemocyanin (186) on Tuesday August 25 2020, @05:13PM (#1041706) Journal

        And so what do we do -- reward turncoat Dems by voting for them? Just as giving a kid candy every time it throws a tantrum, that's a recipe for failure.

        Democrats failed to learn a lesson in 2016. They need to learn it harder. Enough lessons and they either self-correct, or fade into history which allows whatever comes next to replace them and grow, but while we keep rewarding them nothing will ever get better.

        • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 25 2020, @06:29PM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 25 2020, @06:29PM (#1041737)

          No thanks, I'm not willing to tolerate fascism and a rapidly growing dictator just to spite the DNC. As usual you conservatives can only point fingers while putting up the absolute worst trash.

          These conversations are now stupid. If you support Trump you are a traitor to the US, and any arguing is the hot air of assholes who want to cover for their poor choices and desire to hurt "them."

          Stop hating, and stop being hypocrites who blame others while taking zero reslonsibility.

          • (Score: 0, Flamebait) by hemocyanin on Tuesday August 25 2020, @11:05PM

            by hemocyanin (186) on Tuesday August 25 2020, @11:05PM (#1041832) Journal

            Trump's the most ineffective fascist ever. GWB's due process free detention is second only to Obama's due process free execution of American citizens. Trump is a baby doll compared to those two and all of them are ants compared to Kamala. Joe is irrelevant but he was a big asshole himself in the past.

        • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 25 2020, @07:12PM (2 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 25 2020, @07:12PM (#1041756)

          It is a tough decision. I've been withholding my vote from the right-wing Democrats, in hopes that more will join this boycott, and we can demonstrate that the Clinton strategy of courting the racist right, the warmongering right and the economics motivated right is a losing strategy. But, the Republicans keep shifting even further right and going with ever crazier candidates/platforms which scares people into voting for the very much evil, but less so, Democratic candidate / Democratic platform.

          The current Republican administration has dropped all pretense. While they still use dog whistles to rally their racist base (they reportedly used 88 in a bunch of targeted Facebook ads which stands for Heil Hitler in Nazi circles), they also make public statements like, "Nazis are good people too." They have unmarked vehicles with plain-clothed federal agents kidnapping people off the streets. At least, the victims are being released, and not permanently disappeared (yet). But, that is just it, this administration with the backing of the Republican Party, do not seem to have any limits. As bad as it is, it will almost certainly get worse.

          So, is a warmongering right of center Democrat who will have the support of both parties for any military escapades and attacks on civil rights (the Republicans because that is how they naturally align, the Democrats because it is "their guy"), worse than a wannabe tinpot dictator who has the support of only the Republicans for all of his criminal activity?

          The Democratic platform this year sounds pretty good, but only if you ignore all the other signals the Democrats are sending. *Republicans* got most of the floor time as speakers on the opening day of the Democratic convention (serveral, and each had 8 minutes). And, they gave less than 1 minute each to progressive speakers like AOC. So, their stated platform is likely a complete fiction, and they will continue to try to court the right and assume everyone else will vote for them since they, "have no other choice".

          I haven't decided which way to go. If I vote for Biden, it will be the first time I vote for a Democrat since voting "lesser evil" against that other Hitler quoting Republican president, Reagan.

          • (Score: 2, Touché) by khallow on Tuesday August 25 2020, @10:33PM

            by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday August 25 2020, @10:33PM (#1041822) Journal

            they reportedly used 88 in a bunch of targeted Facebook ads which stands for Heil Hitler in Nazi circles

            Then you can show the report, right? And the report can show the Trump administration did that rather than some enemy or troll, right? I find it interesting how the people saying the worst things about the Trump administration have the least evidence. It's a pattern I've seen in political libel going back decades.

          • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday August 27 2020, @03:20AM

            by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday August 27 2020, @03:20AM (#1042527) Journal

            of courting the racist right, the warmongering right and the economics motivated right

            One is not like the others! If we had more economics motivated people in this country than the greedy "I've got mine" types, we'd be in far less of a mess.

        • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday August 26 2020, @01:43AM (1 child)

          by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Wednesday August 26 2020, @01:43AM (#1041922) Journal

          As I've been saying for several months now, this is (hopefully) soon not going to be my direct problem any longer. I don't trust either party at all, but I do trust a Democrat win to stabilize things juuuuust long enough for me to get to Canada. From there, I'll watch this heartbreaking grand guingol consume my former country from the inside out like cancer.

          --
          I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
          • (Score: 1) by hemocyanin on Wednesday August 26 2020, @03:43AM

            by hemocyanin (186) on Wednesday August 26 2020, @03:43AM (#1041978) Journal

            That's a mistake - as mentioned upthread (although I'd quibble a little -- Trump doesn't have even all the GOP's support which makes him rather more ineffective):

            So, is a warmongering right of center Democrat who will have the support of both parties for any military escapades and attacks on civil rights (the Republicans because that is how they naturally align, the Democrats because it is "their guy"), worse than a wannabe tinpot dictator who has the support of only the Republicans for all of his criminal activity?

            The ONLY times Democrats even pretend to care about civil rights (*) or peace, is when a Republican is in office and so the whole irony about the caring party of peace, is that it is creates an America that is least caring and most warmongering when it is in power.

            (*) And this getting even harder to maintain as they deeply embrace the flavor of white supremacy in the Robin DiAngelo style.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 26 2020, @09:47AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 26 2020, @09:47AM (#1042061)

          Fuck you, hemo, and the Republican horse you rode in on! You just piss me off so much with your right wing whining, that I am going to vote by mail a million times, just to fuck you over an make you pay your fair amount of taxes. After that, I will liberate your slaves (employees, including the wife) and extract reparations from you for all the wrongs ever done by America, including for Sadako. You are going to hurt so bad, you will wish you stayed liberal, you treasonous snake in the grass motherfucker! I spit on you! I fart in your specific direction, and I cast aspersions upon your lineage. Now, shut up, asshole.

  • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday August 25 2020, @02:06PM (4 children)

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday August 25 2020, @02:06PM (#1041595) Journal

    I do not and never have supported the orange clown. (Just to say it, in case it is not clear.)

    Yet I reluctantly accept the possibility / probability that he might "win". (with "win" in quotes)

    --
    To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
    • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday August 25 2020, @03:29PM (3 children)

      by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Tuesday August 25 2020, @03:29PM (#1041650) Journal

      ....waaaaait wait wait wait. I replied to Phoenix666 and I get a reply from DannyB?

      Did you just out yourself as a sockpuppet?

      --
      I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
      • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday August 25 2020, @04:35PM

        by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday August 25 2020, @04:35PM (#1041685) Journal

        As of this date, I have only had this one account. I have rarely posted anonymously (probably could count on one hand) and only when being anonymous makes the joke funny.

        --
        To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
      • (Score: 3, Funny) by DannyB on Tuesday August 25 2020, @04:37PM

        by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday August 25 2020, @04:37PM (#1041686) Journal

        My reply was to point out the possibility that Trump could win. (God help us all.)

        I didn't expect him to win his first term. Nevermind his 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc.

        --
        To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 26 2020, @03:20AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 26 2020, @03:20AM (#1041971)

        Never underestimate the power of coincidence.

  • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday August 26 2020, @01:12AM (1 child)

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Wednesday August 26 2020, @01:12AM (#1041900) Journal

    And you've dropped any pretense that you don't sniff loaners at the Lion's Den in your spare time. Lovely.

    --
    Washington DC delenda est.
    • (Score: 3, Informative) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday August 26 2020, @01:41AM

      by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Wednesday August 26 2020, @01:41AM (#1041920) Journal

      Uh, what? What is the Lion's Den and what is on loan here? You're starting to sound exactly like Runaway's combination of bitter, wrung-out spleen juice and half-crazy non-sequiturs.

      --
      I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...