Tech Transparency Project (TTP) Report Clear and Present Danger Documents Facebook’s Continued Negligence on Threats to Elections, Incitement of Violence, Public Health Disinformation

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to Testify to Senate;
Must be Held Accountable on Platform’s Continued Failure to Prevent Dangerous Content and Crack Down on Abusers

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 17, 2020

Contact: Michael Clauw, mclauw@campaignforaccountability.org, 202.780.5750

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Tech Transparency Project, a research hub exploring the influence of major technology companies, today released Clear and Present Danger,  a report documenting Facebook’s persistent and continuing failure to stop anti-democratic content from proliferating on its network and to prevent the platform from being used as a tool to incite hate and violence and spread dangerous public health disinformation.

“As the most widely-used and influential social media platform, Facebook bears a unique responsibility to ensure the platform is not used for harm,” said Katie Paul, Director of the Tech Transparency Project.  “Yet time and again, we have documented Facebook failing to enforce its own insufficient policies as nefarious characters use the network to attack the integrity of free and fair elections, incite hatred and violence, and spread false content about public health.  It must stop now. Congress and the incoming administration must address this clear and present danger.”

In particular, this report, which includes research from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, Media Matters for America and others, documents Facebook’s failures in three key areas of urgent concern to the American public:

– The integrity of the 2020 presidential election.
– The spread of hate and incitements to violence.
– Disinformation about the COVID pandemic and vaccines.

As Mark Zuckerberg joins Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey in testifying to the Senate Judiciary Committee, he will likely claim success for some marginal actions the platform has taken.  However the trend line is clear.  The crisis of a disinformation pandemic affecting social media is getting worse, not better.  Facebook – and all social media platforms – must step up and prevent their networks from being misused to traffic in disinformation, threats, and hatred.

Campaign for Accountability is a nonpartisan, nonprofit watchdog organization that uses research, litigation, and aggressive communications to expose misconduct and malfeasance in public life and hold those who act at the expense of the public good accountable for their actions.