EXPOSED: Facebook failed to combat lies about the 2020 election

U.S. Congress

When a violent and racist mob attacked our Capitol on January 6th, Facebook executives tried to claim that the company did its part to limit incendiary election disinformation and thwart “Stop the Steal” organizing efforts on its platform.

But explosive, newly leaked internal documents -- including some from whistleblower Frances Haugen -- prove otherwise. [1]

According to these documents, Facebook employees were well aware that far-right extremists were using the platform to spread Donald Trump’s conspiracy theories about the 2020 election to radicalize voters and incite real-world action. They tried to sound the alarm multiple times -- but the company failed to take action.

Facebook’s failure to stop the spread of blatant lies -- about vote-by-mail, Trump’s defeat, and more -- on its platform directly led to the deadly insurrection in January. It has also helped fuel heinous anti-voter laws in swing states and violent threats against election officials.

The stories in these leaked files are outrageous. Just four days after the 2020 election, one employee tried to warn colleagues that content doubting the results had spiked -- and now accounted for 10% of all views of Facebook political content in the U.S. But their warnings went ignored.

Congress can take simple steps to help thwart the spread of online disinformation by reining in the harmful business practices of Facebook and other social media platforms. [2] And if Facebook’s complete failure to defend our democracy has shown us anything, it’s that the time for congressional action is now.

That’s why we’re calling on Congress to pass legislation to:

  • Update campaign finance disclosure laws for the digital age, so voters always know who is trying to buy their vote;
  • Pass comprehensive privacy legislation, prohibiting abusive data practices that lead to the spread of disinformation;
  • Improve access to high-quality local media, so voters nationwide can get the real facts;
  • Protect researchers’ and watchdog journalists’ access to social media data, so we can continue to find out when platforms like Facebook are enabling extremism;
  • And prohibit discriminatory online algorithms, so voters aren’t spoon-fed harmful content.

If you agree that Congress must take commonsense action to help stop dangerous lies about voting from spreading online, add your name today.

1) https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/22/technology/facebook-election-misinformation.html
2) https://www.commoncause.org/matteroffact

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Common Cause
Washington, DC

To: U.S. Congress
From: [Your Name]

Facebook employees knew how much dangerous disinformation about the 2020 election was being spread on the platform and tried to warn their colleagues -- but the company failed to take action, according to newly leaked documents. That failure led to horrific real-world violence, like the January 6th insurrection at the U.S. Capitol that left several dead.

We’ve seen time and time again that Facebook cannot be trusted to regulate itself and address lies, hate speech, and other inflammatory content on its platform. We call on Congress to help fight online disinformation by passing legislation that prohibits discriminatory Facebook algorithms, improves access to high-quality local media, and updates campaign finance disclosure laws for the digital age.