What Social Media Companies Are Doing To Prepare For The 2020 Election

We all know what happened last time. In 2020 the pressure is ON for social media companies to combat election misinformation and President Trump’s attempts to claim a victory early using his favorite microphones, Twitter and Facebook. 

How the big social media companies handle information, fact checking and content moderation over the next 24 hours will have huge impacts on the next four years, and likely many more, in America and the rest of the world 

So here’s a brief rundown of what each social media platform is doing to protect election integrity from foreign and domestic threats.

FACEBOOK ELECTION PREP:

• Facebook’s been removing nefarious networks and accounts for months leading up to the election.
• The company launched the Election Operations Center last month which, according to Politico, is serving as air traffic control for issues like voter suppression material and political misinformation. Made up of threat intelligence, data science, engineering and legal leaders from across Facebook, the team will be addressing concerns flagged by state election officials in real time. 

TWITTER ELECTION PREP:

• Twitter has banned posts with false or misleading election information. In order to stem the tide of misinformation the platform also recently added a prompt to ask users to quote tweet instead of just retweeting. 
• A year ago, Twitter banned all political advertising, taking the most stringent approach to political ads out of other social media platforms.  
• CEO Jack Dorsey hired more staff this year to help with the election, and the company met with government officials on Wednesday last week to strategize for potential threats. 

GOOGLE ELECTION PREP: 

• Google’s sourcing election results from the Associated Press. A Google search will return those reputable stats. 
• The behemoth’s Threat Analysis Group and Trust and Safety teams will be tracking the search engine as well as YouTube for any suspicious activity. 
• YouTube will keep taking down videos with false or misleading claims about voting or ones that amplify authoritative material, including election live streams from major news outlets. 

TIKTOK ELECTION PREP:

• TikTok launched an Elections Safety Center in October to increase transparency into how its policies apply to potential scenarios. For example, the platform might remove voter suppression or voter intimidation content or content that incites violence.
• Misinformation, disinformation and manipulated media are prohibited per TikTok’s misleading content policy.
• The company is also working with fact-checking partners to quickly remove false or manipulated videos. 

REDDIT ELECTION PREP: 

• Reddit’s got the hardest line of all and is removing any information that seeks to mislead or misrepresent the election results. 
• The company also has a site dedicated to what happens after the election, with a series of AMAs scheduled from the day after the election where voting experts will answer questions about the vote and what people can expect in the days to come. 
• Certain subreddits, like r/news, have their own sets of rules. For example, r/news will only allow election results to be reported from a group of reputable news organizations, from AP to the BBC. 

WHAT HAPPENS IF A CANDIDATE PREMATURELY DECLARES VICTORY?

• Facebook: When the polls close, Facebook will label anything election-related with a link to the platform’s Voting Information Center which will show real-time results across the country. A premature declaration of victory will be labeled with something like: “Votes are being counted. The winner of the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election has not been projected.” This language will also feature at the top of Facebook and Instagram feeds. 
• Twitter: Twitter will label any premature victory declarations, but it has made rules around not posting such content — unless Trump or Biden cite a reputable news source. Twitter said on Monday that it will consider election results official if declared by at least two outlets out of a list of seven organizations, including: CNN, ABC, Associated Press, CBSNews, Fox News, NBC News and Decision Desk HQ.

• TikTok: The company will be working with fact checkers to “reduce discoverability of content that prematurely claims victory in a race before results are confirmed by the Associated Press.” It’ll limit the distribution of content with unverified claims and will add a banner pointing viewers to its election guide. 
• Reddit: The r/news subreddit has asked that users report immediately a post that claims victory for a specific candidate before official election results are published. 

Will it be enough?

So much damage has already been done to the civil discourse in American society due to social media. No one can possibly be sure of what the future holds. Meanwhile, Washington DC and other cities are prepping for a storm.