2020 Election Day: Social Media Platforms Gear up Ahead of the U.S. Presidential Election

With the U.S. presidential elections only two months away, misinformation is running rampant on social media channels. How are social media platforms advancing their efforts to ensure that users are not deceived?

Political ads on social media platforms are a game-changer for election campaigns. Unlike traditional broadcasting methods like television or radio, social media platforms act as a direct communication line for political candidates to reach, engage, and persuade their voters. 

According to an eMarketer surveyOpens a new window , Facebook and Google already control 60.8% of the total U.S. digital ad market, whereas, Facebook will dominate the political ad market with 59.4% of digital political spending during the 2019/2020 election cycle. In comparison, Google is a runner up with an expected 18.2% digital political ad spending during this election cycle. Among the digital platforms, Facebook is a popular choice for political advertisers due to its easy reach, timeliness, and targeting capabilities. 

There has been a rapid increase in political ads and misinformation that has put social media platforms on a tight spot. While some channels, including Twitter, TikTok, and Pinterest, have banned political ads on their platforms, several tech companies have joined forces with federal agencies to secure the electoral process. Despite these steps, big players such as Facebook and Google, are yet to reform their ad policies against political misinformation. 

Last week, Twitter and Facebook made headlines with many stringent policies on the U.S. presidential elections in 2020. Twitter and Facebook have decided to place warning labels on President Donald Trump’s posts, in which he urged people to try to vote twice.

On September 3, 2020, Trump encouragedOpens a new window North Carolina voters to test the election system’s integrity in the upcoming November elections by voting twice, once by mail, and once in person. This stirred confusion amongst the voters, and the head of the North Carolina Board of Elections and social media companies had to step in to clear the air. 

Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, saysOpens a new window , “It is illegal to vote twice in an election. Attempting to vote twice in an election or soliciting someone to do so also is a violation of North Carolina law.”

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The Role of Social Media in the 2020 Election 

Facebook moderators flagged Trump’s postOpens a new window about voting twice that read, “Voting by mail has a long history of trustworthiness in the U.S. and the same is predicted this year.” In June 2020, Facebook and Facebook-owned Instagram had to take down a video by Trump’s campaign accounts over copyright issuesOpens a new window .

To combat the spread of misinformation, Facebook announced new policies to block all new political ads during the final week of the election campaign. If a candidate declares victory before the final results, Facebook will label their posts and direct them to Reuters and the National Election Pool’s official results, the policy outlined. The company will also remove ads and posts that are discouraging citizens from voting due to COVID-19. 

Furthermore, Facebook plans to attach an information label to content that seeks to delegitimize the election outcome or discuss the legitimacy of voting methods. To prevent viral misinformation, the company has introducedOpens a new window a forwarding limit on Messenger to five people per message.

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, saidOpens a new window , “I believe our democracy is strong enough to withstand this challenge and deliver a free and fair election — even if it takes time for every vote to be counted. We’ve voted during global pandemics before. We can do this. But it’s going to take a concerted effort by all of us — political parties and candidates, election authorities, the media, and social networks, and ultimately voters as well — to live up to our responsibilities.”

Facebook and Instagram announcedOpens a new window a new research initiative that will compensate users for deactivating their IG and FB accounts before the election day. The research will study the platforms’ impact on politics and examine how users interact with Facebook, Instagram, and other services on their platform.

Liz Bourgeois, a Facebook spokesperson, tweeted about the agenda of academic research.

Anyone who chooses to opt in – whether it’s completing surveys or deactivating FB or IG for a period of time – will be compensated. This is fairly standard for this type of academic research. More here:

— Liz Bourgeois (@Liz_Shepherd) September 3, 2020Opens a new window

While Twitter declared Trump’s tweet thread about voting twice a violation of its Civic Integrity Policy, the social media giant didn’t remove the post but ensured that users do not like, retweet, or reply.

We placed a public interest notice on two Tweets in this thread for violating our Civic Integrity Policy, specifically for encouraging people to potentially vote twice.

— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) September 3, 2020Opens a new window

The growing misinformation on social media prompted Twitter to take a stance on the pertaining issue. On May 26, 2020, Twitter decided to fact-check President Trump’s tweet and added fact-check labels on two of his tweets. 

There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent. Mail boxes will be robbed, ballots will be forged & even illegally printed out & fraudulently signed. The Governor of California is sending Ballots to millions of people, anyone…..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 26, 2020Opens a new window

Previously in 2019, TikTok decided to ban political ads from its platform, becoming the first social media platform to do so. In the same year, even Twitter decided to ban political ads on its platform. In contrast, Facebook chose not to fact-check or remove political ads from its platform, allowing political candidates and campaigns to run ads with false claims. Lawmakers and Facebook’s employees flaked this decision. However, Zuckerberg argued that it did not want to stifle political speech by incorporating new policies.  

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Last week, Pinterest also announcedOpens a new window that it would no longer show election-related ads on its platform. It will also give its employees eight hours of paid time off to vote or work at the election polls. Additionally, the company plans to update its Civic Misinformation Policy, launched in January 2020, to ban election-related misinformation on its platform.

With no fact-checking system in place, social media is the breeding ground for misinformation. Social media channels must make substantial efforts to prevent false or misleading information on their platforms. With just two months into the election, it is time for these platforms to step up their efforts to halt incorrect information and help U.S. citizens to make a bias-free decision in the 2020 elections.

Can social media platforms make a difference in the upcoming U.S. elections? Comment below or let us know on LinkedInOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , or FacebookOpens a new window . We’d love to hear from you!