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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: 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.

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  • (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.