Kevin, as they continue to distract the majority of the country and eat up the majority of online advertising dollars in the process, Big Tech social media networks are tossing thousands of journalism jobs into the trash compactor. As we saw in 2016, this can have a very real, very negative impact on what information people are receiving about the election. The consequences can be severe.
Consider, for example, the spread of misinformation about voting by mail. Facebook’s community standards have long said that it opposes voter suppression and will ban posts that misrepresent who can vote, the qualifications for voting, whether a vote will be counted and what information or materials must be provided in order to vote. But their actions, or lack thereof, tell a different story.
A ProPublica and First Draft analysis found that since April 1, nearly half of the most popular posts on Facebook about voting were completely false or misleading. Many of these posts focused on vote by mail; the best voting option to keep the American public safe during a viral pandemic. However, these false posts were never removed or fact-checked by Facebook.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise; Trump has been claiming that vote by mail “will lead to massive abuse and fraud”, he even said in a recent Fox News interview that voting by mail will rig the election. His acolytes have echoed his message across numerous social media platforms, especially Facebook, which have allowed Trump’s comments to go unchecked and many other posts to remain visible for hundreds of thousands to view.
The goal of this misinformation is obvious: sowing distrust and confusion over how to vote in November, hoping that it will help Trump squeak by for another term.
Daily Kos is in a unique position to break through the cacophony of lies to not only tell the truth about voting by mail, but to actually help people vote by mail. Through our vast email and SMS lists and our highly trafficked website, we have a deep reach into the progressive base that can arm millions of grassroots activists with the facts they need to spread the truth about voting by mail. Further, we have also already signed up over 30,000 volunteers to engage in socially distanced Get Out the Vote activities that will drive up voter turnout instead of discouraging it. This includes thousands of Daily Kos volunteers who are already calling voters in crucial swing states like Arizona, Michigan, and Pennsylvania to help them request absentee ballots for the November election, to make sure that no one ever has to choose between protecting their health and exercising their right to vote.
Keep fighting,
Amanda McKay, Daily Kos
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