How Facebook And Twitter Are Rushing To Stop Voter Suppression Online For The Midterm Elections washingtonpost.com

Facebook and Twitter aren’t just trying to drive people to the polls — they’re racing to fight back bad actors who seek to deter their users from voting.

With the 2018 midterms days away, both social media platforms are waging a quiet war against fast-spreading falsehoods about how, when and where to vote — including posts containing inaccuracies about how to mail in ballots or doctored photos that show long lines at polling stations. To do so, they are taking aggressive steps to scan, vet and remove content that they see as a direct threat to democracy.

For Facebook and Twitter, the challenge is to ensure that false information about voting — potentially seeded by foreign governments or malicious domestic actors, then amplified by Web users unwittingly — does not serve to deter or intimidate voters on Nov. 6. Typically, these online giants shy away from correcting or removing false comments on their platforms, arguing that they are not arbiters of truth.

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For example, Twitter users in recent weeks have fueled a rumor that federal immigration agents might be stationed at polling places across the country to check voters’ citizenship statuses. “I hear ICE agents will be at polling stations on election day, looking to deport illegals trying to vote,” an Oct. 28 tweet said.

The post, which had gained little traction, was removed after The Washington Post contacted Twitter about it on Thursday. Experts fear such tweets could go viral and scare immigrants who are allowed to vote from casting ballots. (The Trump administration has said — on Twitter — that it does not conduct “enforcement operations at polling locations.”)
But both tech companies are proceeding cautiously, trying to find the right balance between combating perceived voter suppression and preserving free expression. “STOP VOTER FRAUD WEAR A ICE HAT ON ELECTION DAY,” suggested another tweet that was still viewable on Twitter as of Friday.

Facebook and Twitter say they have fine-tuned their policies — and their algorithms — in a bid to thwart threats and misinformation around voting. Government officials also stress they are keeping watch, and many state election leaders and voting rights organizations say they have reported problematic posts to the companies.

Monitoring for misleading messages, however, is not an easy task — and the stakes for tech giants are sky-high after suspicious accounts with possible Russian ties used similar tactics during the 2016 election. On Twitter, they targeted their inaccurate voting information specifically to Hispanic, African American and LGBT voters, according to documents released by congressional lawmakers.

“We’re concerned there’s going to be misinformation,” said Jim Condos, the secretary of state for Vermont and the leader of the National Association of Secretaries of State.