"Speed" is the only challenge for all services available over the Internet
"Facebook" and "Twitter" are preparing for possible chaos on the night of the US presidential elections
Mark Zuckerberg expects that the election night on November 3 will be marked by confusion.
Reuters
Facebook's election day job will not be easy.
Father
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Social media companies are facing intense scrutiny and pressure to do more, with the aim of preventing their electronic platforms from turning into carriers of misinformation and interfering in the US presidential elections, according to Bloomberg News.
Bloomberg News reported that Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, like many Americans, expects that the election night, on the third of next November, will be marked by confusion and also to be violent.
"I think, unfortunately, there is an increased risk of civil unrest in the period between the vote and the announcement of the result," Zuckerberg said in an interview with the US news site Axios last month.
He added during the interview: "I think we need to do everything in our power to reduce the chances of violence or civil unrest, in the wake of these elections."
Impact attempt
On the other hand, Dr. Bill Marcelino, a senior professor of behavioral sciences, and a group of other professors, said in a report published by the American RAND Corporation that in light of the threats to the US elections in the past, it is possible that external actors try again to influence The American political campaign for 2020, via social media.
Facebook and its competitor, Twitter, have over the past two months rolled out new policies as they prepare for a complex and possibly chaotic election night, where the election results are likely to be unclear or late.
It cannot be overlooked that there may be a delay in announcing the election results for various reasons that may require resorting to the judiciary, and the accompanying protests and confrontations by supporters of the Republican and Democratic candidates.
The two companies, "Facebook" and "Twitter", updated their rules this week, indicating that the two sites were still adjusting their strategies less than a month before the elections.
Any delay in the official announcement of the winner, on the night of the third of November, is likely to confuse voters, and could provide an opportunity for many, including the candidates themselves, to post incomplete or inaccurate information on the Internet, according to Bloomberg.
Some observers are concerned that the lack of clear answers, or conflicting information about the results of the vote, may lead to riots or protests, and others have warned of potential intimidation at polling places, or that incorrect information about how or when the vote will take place may occur. It means that citizens do not vote at all.
New procedures
Among the new measures taken by Facebook and Twitter in preparation for election night:
First: Facebook added restrictions on political advertising, with the aim of preventing candidates from promoting misleading allegations through advertising in the hours before or after the voting process.
The online platform will also place a symbol on the publications issued by the candidates, who claim to have won the elections before the results are announced, and it will also prevent advertising that will include that same content, according to Bloomberg.
Facebook will place an alert over every publication of Facebook and Instagram users, once the voting boxes are closed, to direct citizens to the voting information center.
Second: Twitter considered that the posts that provide false information about the election night results constitute a violation of its policy, and indicated that he would place a symbol on them.
At the same time, the site considered that publications that "work to weaken confidence" in the voting process, such as suggesting that the results are forged, also contradict the rules adopted by it, and they will be symbolized or removed.
It is noteworthy that "Twitter", like "Facebook", has an information center for the voting process, which will be updated throughout the night of the elections, through tweets issued by the main news organizations.
In many cases, the misleading information that will be published on the two services will be coded, but not removed, which raises a question among some election observers about the effectiveness of this strategy.
The only challenge for all services available on the Internet is "speed." Even if social media companies put symbols on posts issued by dissident politicians, these messages could reach users on a very large scale within a few minutes.
It is noteworthy that after the US President, Donald Trump, published a tweet earlier this week indicating that the "Covid-19" disease caused by infection with the "Corona" virus was not worse than the flu, the "Twitter" website hid the post. Behind a warning poster, but after the post won more than 180,000 likes, in addition to reposting the tweet more than 43,000 times.
It cannot be overlooked that there may be a delay in announcing the election results for various reasons, which may require resorting to the judiciary, and the accompanying protests and confrontations by supporters of the Republican and Democratic candidates.
Twitter, like Facebook, has an information center for the voting process, which will be updated throughout the night of the elections through tweets issued by the main news organizations.
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