Photo by Kyndall Ramirez on Unsplash [Download]

Facebook says it could restrict some content if election leads to unrest

Facebook has some break-glass options available including limiting the spread of certain content if the November election results in political instability, Nick Clegg, Facebooks head of global affairs, told The Financial Times on Tuesday.

There are some break-glass options available to us if there really is an extremely chaotic and, worse still, violent set of circumstances, Clegg said.

His comments echo previous warnings from Facebook that it was preparing for scenarios where the winner of the presidential race isnt initially known or is in dispute.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in August that he believed there was significant risk of civil unrest leading up to the election.

Facebook already restricts the spread of many kinds of material on its services, from posts that promote violence by the Boogaloo extremist movement to posts that try to spread the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly tried to cast doubt on the election, alleging without evidence that it could be rigged or that hed have to put down an insurrection against him.

This month, Facebook said that if any candidate or campaign tried to declare victory before the final results were in, it would add a label to their posts directing people to the official results from Reuters and the National Election Pool.

Original article
Author: Nbcnews

Go to NBCNews.com for breaking news, videos, and the latest top stories in world news, business, politics, health and pop culture.

Nbcnews has recently written 9 articles on similar topics including :
  1. "Facebook will stop recommending political groups permanently". (January 28, 2021)
  2. "The company is also making some changes to groups and will stop recommending health-focused communities". (September 17, 2020)
  3. "The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee quickly criticized the decisions Wednesday, saying the bans amount to unacceptable voter suppression". (November 11, 2020)
  4. "Facebook said Wednesday that hackers based in China used the social media platform as part of a campaign to hack and spy on diasporas of Uyghurs, the minority". (March 24, 2021)
  5. "The Oversight Board has the potential to revolutionize how we think about the relationship between private corporations and our public rights". (October 22, 2020)
  6. "The page belonged to the Kenosha Guard, a self-identified local militia that had set up an event on Facebook calling for people to take to the streets with weapons". (August 28, 2020)
  7. "Facebook said the website is run by people affiliated with the Internet Research Agency, which inflamed political tensions in the 2016 election through social media". (September 1, 2020)
  8. "The measures also aim to prevent campaigns and their supporters from making premature claims of victory, a situation some Democrats have described as a doomsday scenario". (September 3, 2020)
  9. "Much of the Russia-backed content is aimed at younger viewers and the political left, designed to peel them off from the Democratic party, experts say". (October 9, 2020)
Posted on  , ,