⁍ Facebook said it would remove calls for people to engage in poll watching that use ‘militarized language’
Facebook also said that it would respond to candidates or parties making premature claims of victory or contesting declared outcomes.
⁍ Republicans are mobilizing thousands of volunteers to watch early voting sites and ballot drop boxes.
– Facebook says it will restrict election-related activities on its platform, including removing posts calling for people to monitor polling places or making “militarized language” about intimidating voters, Reuters reports. The company says it will also add warnings and notifications to candidates or parties when they make premature claims of victory or challenge declared outcomes. Facebook says it will temporarily stop accepting new political ads after the polls close on Nov. 3. Google says it will also stop accepting election-related ads after the polls close for an indefinite period. Facebook had previously said it would stop accepting new political ads in the week before Election Day and would reject ads prematurely claiming victory. Republicans are mobilizing thousands of volunteers to watch early voting sites and ballot drop boxes, part of an effort to find evidence to back up President Trump’s unsubstantiated complaints about voter fraud. The president’s son Donald Trump Jr. sought such volunteers for an ‘Army for Trump’s election security operation’ in a September video that racked up millions of views on social media. Facebook’s Vice President of Content Policy Monika Bickert said the company would not apply its new policy retroactively, but confirmed that the video would be considered in violation of its rules going forward. “Under the new policy, if that video were to be posted again we would indeed be removing it,” she said.
Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-election-facebook/update-1-facebook-will-remove-posts-with-militarized-calls-for-us-election-poll-watchers-idUSL1N2GY2AQ