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Facebook Braces Itself for Trump to Cast Doubt on Election Results

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

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for RandomFactor:

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.

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by tangomargarine on Tuesday August 25 2020, @06:00PM (2 children)

    by tangomargarine (667) on Tuesday August 25 2020, @06:00PM (#1041724)

    I guess there was talk of charging a small fee (~ $2) for a special ID. I know that in my current State, a non-driver ID card, which would be perfectly sufficient to prove the right to vote, costs $2

    Yes, but they could even make it free, but it wouldn't matter if the office is only open every-other-Thursday for 3 hours in the afternoon or whatever, and there's a line out the door, so you have to take the day off from your crappy job that doesn't give you vacation. I'm not questioning whether the ID exists, but how easy it is to actually procure one.

    Obtaining ID Costs Money. Even if ID is offered for free, voters must incur numerous costs (such as paying for birth certificates) to apply for a government-issued ID.
    Underlying documents required to obtain ID cost money, a significant expense for lower-income Americans. The combined cost of document fees, travel expenses and waiting time are estimated to range from $75 to $175.2
    The travel required is often a major burden on people with disabilities, the elderly, or those in rural areas without access to a car or public transportation. In Texas, some people in rural areas must travel approximately 170 miles to reach the nearest ID office.3

    https://www.aclu.org/other/oppose-voter-id-legislation-fact-sheet [aclu.org]

    providing everyone who either legitimately couldn't prove their identity, or legitimately couldn't afford the $2, is trivial.

    Oh fuck off

    --
    "Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +2  
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  • (Score: 1, Troll) by tangomargarine on Wednesday August 26 2020, @03:00PM (1 child)

    by tangomargarine (667) on Wednesday August 26 2020, @03:00PM (#1042174)

    Would love to see whoever modded me Troll defend that decision

    --
    "Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 26 2020, @08:10PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 26 2020, @08:10PM (#1042358)

      Welcome to SN, you thought all the people complaining about terrible downmods was 100% false? My very anecdotal opinion is that conservatives got modded troll for pushing rightwing propaganda and got very hurt feelings. Now they go downmodding anything that goes against them as some kind of retribution.

      There is no more appealing to reality, they have drawn their lines over which nothing but their masters can make them cross.