UPDATED 23:02 EDT / NOVEMBER 02 2020

POLICY

How social media companies will deal with the election night and beyond

With election night looming, social media platforms say they’ve stepped up efforts to ensure their platforms are not exploited by bad actors.

Since there are so many mail-in votes this time around, it’s even more certain that the counting of votes will take some time. During the downtime, there could be some amount of chaos, so social media companies such as Facebook Inc., Twitter Inc. and Google LLC-owned YouTube have implemented some initiatives to prevent that chaos from happening.

Facebook will have its team of 35,000 people working in its so-called “War Room” looking for misinformation on the platform. The company already said it will post banners telling the truth if any candidate announces victory too early, while Twitter will also have similar banners on its platform.

Last month, Facebook said that it has “break-glass options” if anything worrying should happen, although the company didn’t say exactly what those options were. It’s thought they will include changing the aspect of the algorithm if posts that promote misinformation or violence go viral. Facebook may also deactivate certain hashtags. During the election, things will be stricter, with reports saying that Facebook’s approach to the election will be closer to how it has dealt in the past with countries such as Sri Lanka and Myanmar.

Not only will Twitter have banners on the platform, but it will also prevent any candidates from tweeting anything that could endanger the election process. Any tweets that are seen as dubious will come with a label and a link to reliable resources.

“We’ll be prioritizing the presidential election and other highly contested races where there may be significant issues with misleading information,” Twitter said, adding that tweets from U.S. accounts with more than 100,000 followers may also be labeled for misinformation. If people attempt to retweet something that has been labeled, they’ll be prompted to click on another resource before doing so.

Google has said it’s working with the Associated Press to provide people with information. If people search for information about the winner of the election, people will be directed to a dedicated Associated Press link. YouTube said it will take down any “misleading claims about voting or content that encourages interference in the democratic process.” Content inciting violence will also be removed.

Reddit said it will try to ensure “rumors and inaccuracies don’t get taken at face value” and it will host a series of “Ask Me Anything” discussions with “voting experts, constitutional scholars, academics, nonprofits and NGOs.”

Photo: CityofStPete/Flickr

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