On Thursday, Facebook said it would not accept new political ads in the week leading up to the 2020 election in an effort to protect the integrity of U.S. elections.
Facebook also announced Thursday that the platform would remove any posts that "claim people will get COVID-19 if they take part in voting," and will add more information to any posts that attempt to suppress the vote with the threat of the virus.
In addition, the company will add more information to posts that attempt to "delegitimize" the outcome of the election or "discuss" the legitimacy of voting methods.
Finally, Facebook said it would add more information to posts from political candidates that attempt to claim victory before final results are tallied. The company says it will rely on "official results from Reuters and the National Election Pool."
Facebook faced criticism for neglecting to combat the spread of disinformation prior to the 2016 election. U.S. officials say Russians used the platform to boost divisive and misleading information during that election, and reports indicate that several other countries are attempting to influence the 2020 election.
