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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.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 25 2020, @06:56PM (1 child)
Budget constraints in postage and man hours to send out those pings as you described?
Concern that poor people won't post a reply?
Reluctance to "mandate" a response to a government request that is considered minor, for exercising a voluntary activity?
There is a process here to clean out old records. Relocations within the county are updated immediately. If voters haven't voted for a couple of years, they need to affirm that they still live at their address. Finally after about 6 years, their entry is purged.
There is also a notification process for people to report the death of their child, parents, wife, which will purge those entries.
(Score: 3, Informative) by rleigh on Tuesday August 25 2020, @10:36PM
I don't believe that "poor people are less likely to reply" is reasonable. Filling in the details takes less than 5 minutes, and you can drop it into a postbox at your convenience. The postage is prepaid for a reason, so that there is no financial barrier to participation, even if it's just a single stamp. And since you have to send in the details to register in the first place, this really only concerns removals and changes. At least in the UK it's also a civil offence not to return the form; you can be fined for not returning it. It's part of your civil obligations, and this part is not a "voluntary activity" (though voting itself is).
As for the cost, the voter registration is part of the cost of running a democracy. They are updating the records in different areas all year round, so there's a fixed cost in people and resources. It's already paid for as part of local government running costs.