While Republicans accuse Facebook and Twitter of censoring free speech, one expert says the platforms should do more because U.S. voters are "more vulnerable to online disinformation" than ever.
The social media companies said they wanted to slow the spread of possibly false information. But their actions drew charges of censorship from President Trump and his allies.
The move is a reversal of Facebook's longstanding reluctance to block problematic content. Critics say public health misinformation has flourished on the social network.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who previously considered such claims free speech, said his thinking has "evolved." Survivors had lobbied the social network to remove posts that deny the Holocaust.
A new report highlights how easy it is to spread hoaxes on Facebook, despite the tech giant's increasing efforts to stop misinformation about the coronavirus and the election.
The social network announced new measures to prevent misinformation, threats and confusion surrounding the election, but said it would let Donald Trump Jr's call for an 'army of poll watchers' stand.
House Democrats recommend Congress look at ways to force the companies to split off some of their businesses, saying the tech giants have exploited their power to benefit themselves and hurt rivals.
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The president, who is being treated for COVID-19, has been downplaying the severity of the disease. He said falsely that, compared with the flu, COVID-19 is "in most populations far less lethal."
Conservatives accuse Facebook of being biased against right-wing views, but engagement data tells a different story. The most popular content on Facebook, though, remains a secret.
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All three tech companies confirmed that posts expressing the hope that the president does not recover from COVID-19 will be removed for violating each platform's content policies.
If results of the presidential election are delayed, false claims and other misinformation could thrive online, which is forcing Facebook and Twitter to prepare for worst-case scenarios.
National security officials say Russia is again trying to disrupt the election. But this time, it doesn't have to work so hard because Americans are spreading mistruths and doubts about the election.
Facebook critics are banding together to monitor misinformation, hate speech and voter suppression on the social network because, they argue, it has fallen short.
The social media companies said the accounts and pages were linked to Russian actors that had launched "hack-and-leak" operations to hurt Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.
The Justice Department's proposal would hold Facebook and Twitter more accountable for users' posts. One critic says the Trump administration is "trying to work the refs ahead of the election."
False claims that blame left-wing activists for wildfires in Oregon have spread on social media. To stop the rumors, some experts say platforms should take inspiration from the stock market.
Some of the most prominent users of the social media platforms called for a boycott to protest Facebook's failure to control disinformation and hate speech as part of the campaign #StopHateForProfit.
The company said its new policy would eliminate search predictions that could be seen as favoring a political candidate or as making claims about "the integrity or legitimacy of electoral processes."
Twitter will label or remove posts that spread misinformation. Social media companies are under pressure to curb the spread of false claims and prevent interference from foreign and domestic actors.
Facebook's head of security policy, Nathaniel Gleicher, said that the company is working harder than ever to counteract efforts to interfere in the 2020 presidential election.
Both social networks said the president's false claims that children are "almost immune" from COVID-19 violated its policy on coronavirus misinformation.
