A few weeks ago, Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, announced that the company will add labels to all posts about voting and direct people to Facebook’s voting hub for authentic information. Now, the social media giant is rolling out labels to all posts that mention voting or ballots and come for federally-elected officials and presidential candidates. All posts about voting will be labeled irrespective of whether the content contains misleading information or not.
The new labels will include a ‘Get Voting Information’ CTA (Call to Action), and when a user will click on the CTA, they will be directed to a page on the USA.gov site. The USA.gov website outlines various questions and answers related to the voting process. The new update is a significant policy shift from the company as Facebook has been heavily criticized after the company refused to add warning messages or labels to posts made by political candidates or submit such posts to fact-checks, despite various other social media platforms moving to take more action against such posts.
Back in May of this year, Twitter sparked a new battle with Donald Trump, United States President, after Twitter added a warning label to his tweets. According to Twitter, Donald Trump’s tweet on mail-in voting did not violate the platform’s policies, as such, however, the company added a warning label, given that those tweets could mislead users as to how the mail-in process functions, and eventually lower voter participation.
The following day, Zuckerberg criticized the approach of Twitter. He said that social media platforms should not be the ‘arbiters of truth.’ Since then, the social media giant, Facebook has been criticized for the company’s hands-off approach in this respect. This also resulted in the Facebook ads boycott campaign which is likely to cost Facebook billions of dollars.
The new initiative is a positive sign as it indicates that Facebook, and particularly Mark Zuckerberg, is listening, it is hearing what the community is saying. It seems that the company is slowly evolving to meet those expectations of people. However, the company is still standing firm on its decision not to fact-check political ads. However, it seems that the social media giant is looking to change its broader approach in this respect.
Last month, Mark Zuckerberg, announced via Facebook Live that Facebook will look to add new labels to posts from politicians. The new labels being rolled out today should help to ensure that people using Facebook are given the opportunity to learn more about voting claims. With its Voting Information Center, the company also aims to encourage more Americans to participate in the November poll.
Screenshot: Facebook
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The new labels will include a ‘Get Voting Information’ CTA (Call to Action), and when a user will click on the CTA, they will be directed to a page on the USA.gov site. The USA.gov website outlines various questions and answers related to the voting process. The new update is a significant policy shift from the company as Facebook has been heavily criticized after the company refused to add warning messages or labels to posts made by political candidates or submit such posts to fact-checks, despite various other social media platforms moving to take more action against such posts.
Back in May of this year, Twitter sparked a new battle with Donald Trump, United States President, after Twitter added a warning label to his tweets. According to Twitter, Donald Trump’s tweet on mail-in voting did not violate the platform’s policies, as such, however, the company added a warning label, given that those tweets could mislead users as to how the mail-in process functions, and eventually lower voter participation.
The following day, Zuckerberg criticized the approach of Twitter. He said that social media platforms should not be the ‘arbiters of truth.’ Since then, the social media giant, Facebook has been criticized for the company’s hands-off approach in this respect. This also resulted in the Facebook ads boycott campaign which is likely to cost Facebook billions of dollars.
The new initiative is a positive sign as it indicates that Facebook, and particularly Mark Zuckerberg, is listening, it is hearing what the community is saying. It seems that the company is slowly evolving to meet those expectations of people. However, the company is still standing firm on its decision not to fact-check political ads. However, it seems that the social media giant is looking to change its broader approach in this respect.
Last month, Mark Zuckerberg, announced via Facebook Live that Facebook will look to add new labels to posts from politicians. The new labels being rolled out today should help to ensure that people using Facebook are given the opportunity to learn more about voting claims. With its Voting Information Center, the company also aims to encourage more Americans to participate in the November poll.
Screenshot: Facebook
Read next: Facebook Set to Launch TikTok Competitor as The Short Video Recording App Faces Scrutiny
