Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg penned an op-ed for USA Today this week in which he announced this his company is implementing strategies that will educate Americans on the importance of voting this November. The company’s goal is to register four million new voters for the 2020 election. Zuckerberg also stated that Facebook may censor posts from politicians that violate community guidelines.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg penned an op-ed in USA Today that was published this week in which he explained the various ways in which Facebook plans to “strengthen democracy” ahead of the November elections.
Zuckerberg specifically noted that Facebook will encourage users to register to vote. The company has set a goal of 4 million new voters registered for the 2020 election. Various election-focused resources will be available to users at the top of the Facebook News Feed until voting occurs in November.
To achieve this, we’re creating a new Voting Information Center with authoritative information, including how and when to vote, as well as details about voter registration, voting by mail and information about early voting. We’ll also include posts from state election officials and verified local election authorities. We’ll show this center at the top of the Facebook News Feed and on Instagram to make sure everyone gets a chance to see it.
Zuckerberg wrote that Facebook will begin to hold politicians accountable for certain content that they share on the platform. Zuckerberg suggested that he is sympathetic to requests to censor politicians that violate community guidelines.
Everyone wants to see politicians held accountable for what they say — and I know many people want us to moderate and remove more of their content. We have rules against speech that will cause imminent physical harm or suppress voting, and no one is exempt from them. But accountability only works if we can see what those seeking our votes are saying, even if we viscerally dislike what they say.
Zuckerberg also noted that Facebook will introduce a feature that will allow users to block political advertisements from their feed.
By giving people a voice, registering and turning out voters, and preventing interference, I believe Facebook is supporting and strengthening our democracy in 2020 and beyond. And for those of you who’ve already made up your minds and just want the election to be over, we hear you — so we’re also introducing the ability to turn off seeing political ads. We’ll still remind you to vote.
Breitbart News reported this week that Basecamp CTO David Heinemeier Hansson argued recently that tech giants like Google and Facebook have too much control over the internet.
Stay tuned to Breitbart News for more updates on this story.