Social media leader Facebook has provided a less than strident response to a misleading post made by President Trump on Thursday. The post reiterates previous statements that the President has made that once voters send in their mail in ballots, they should also visit their polling place on election day and confirm it was counted. If it was not (which it likely won't have been), they should then vote again. Whether known or not by the President and his istration, this recommended act is, in fact, a crime.
The election campaigns have gained a significant amount of steam in recent weeks as the November election finish line grows nearer each day. The current President, known worldwide for using social media platforms (many times on a whim) to share thoughts and keep his base fired up, has recently been pushing this call-to-action hard to potential voters. Facebook, whose actions (or lack there of) negatively affected the last election has promised to be more proactive this time around. Mark Zuckerberg recently released his own Facebook post outlining his worries for the election, while outlining all the steps the platform is taking to prevent manipulative or false information before the election. With nearly 31 million Facebook followers for Trump, one would think Mark Zuckerberg would have seen this post that clearly violates many of the policies he himself had just promised to enforce?
According to a rather broad one. The disclaimer offers nothing more than reassurance about the 'trustworthiness' of voting by mail. In reality, voters could vote by mail, visit a polling place, and be told that their ballot hadn't been counted... yet. That isn't to say it won't be though (many mail in ballots are counted after the polls close). Facebook refrains from addressing the actual issue of the instructions within the post itself, and should really have considered warning people that following said instructions might lead to one's arrest. To exhibit just how perilous following these instructions could be for citizens, voting twice is actually a felony in 28 states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCAL). That means that if convicted in certain states, that person would never have the right to vote there ever again.
The Larger The Audience, The Greater The Repercussions
Mail in voting is just starting to begin, and Facebook has already tripped over its own shoelaces and landed (coincidentally or not) right at the feet of the commander in chief. What is most unnerving about this anemic response is not just Facebook's global status as the complete power-holder of its platform, but its seemingly sincere and meticulous strategy publicly announced to prevent posts exactly like the President's, that openly mislead and misdirect the participants of a national election. Federal law grants Facebook all authority to delete, correct, or flag posts that can entrap its base of voters. Instead, it has chosen to remain ive, thus establishing itself as an accomplice to the lie.
Regardless if Facebook takes the post down now, the damage has been done. The message has already been sent and can now be shared by word of mouth like an abrasive game of telephone lacking the true facts. The hope is that polling places are prepared even more than they already were for the turmoil that is already certain to encom them during a global pandemic, while already short on staff. Hopefully, people are voting early by mail, trusting the process and not bothering to visit a polling place, for their own health and safety, and for their true understating of the voting process. Additionally, the more individuals can do to spread fact-checking and proven truth to the masses, especially to voters, is imperative to the success of an honest election, especially as Facebook's lack of action reveals it isn't going to do it.
Source: Gizmodo