Friend,

Every day there is a new headline: Facebook execs saying Trump could return to the platform in January. Elon Musk — who opposes social-media companies' efforts to restrict the spread of hateful and threatening speech and disinformation — is once again on deck to take over Twitter.¹ There have been a lot of developments and we realize that it is a lot to keep up with — especially when you’re not in the weeds as much as we are.

Since you’re a valued member of our movement, we want to ensure you have all the information you need to understand what we are fighting for this fall. This is a longer email than usual because there’s a lot to cover — but we promise it will all make sense by the end by the time you’re done reading it.

Last month we increased the pressure on tech platforms for their failures to stop the spread of hate and disinformation by going public in the Washington Post about our conversations with the companies. As a leader of the Change the Terms coalition, we continue to pressure tech companies to institute terms of service that won’t harm our communities or incite violence.

With the midterms less than two months away and another presidential election cycle heating up in 2023, social-media and tech platforms — despite their protests to the contrary — are showing no sense of urgency to stop election disinformation. 

Case in point: Meta still allows posts promoting Trump’s “Big Lie” to spread on its networks. Post reporter Naomi Nix notes, “[w]hile TikTok, Twitter and YouTube have banned 2020 election-rigging claims, Facebook has not.” To make matters worse, Nick Clegg, Meta's president of global affairs, signaled that the social media network may let election-denier-in-chief Donald Trump back on the platform as soon as early 2023 (?!?!).

But it’s not just Facebook we’re worried about. On Tuesday, reports broke that Elon Musk may very well honor his original offer to purchase Twitter. Earlier this year, Musk called Twitter’s decision to permanently ban Donald Trump from the platform “morally wrong and flat-out stupid.” If he goes through with this purchase, Musk has signaled he would reinstate Trump — and the white supremacist propaganda and violence that he spews.

With or without Musk at the helm, Twitter must take a series of actions outlined by Change the Terms’ #FixTheFeed campaign to correct known failures at the company and do right by Twitter users. And all other social-media companies must take action to protect their own users. Sign our petition today demanding that Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube #FixtheFeed.

The leader of any social-media platform must take action against the glorification and incitement of violence; the spread of disinformation, sexual harassment and abuse; and other hateful activities.

These protections are essential for all platform users, not just a few prominent and powerful influencers like Musk or Trump.

Thank you for everything you do for our movement.

In solidarity,

The Free Press team
freepress.net

P.S. At Free Press, we don’t take a single dollar from business, government or political parties — our work is powered by the generosity of charitable foundations and people like you. If you can, please contribute to Free Press today to sustain our work to fight disinformation with everything we’ve got. A generous donor is matching all donations that come in the door through 10/31, so your gift will have 2x the impact.

1. “Musk's Surprising Reversal on Twitter Purchase Poses a Fundamental Threat to the Network's Users and Democracy,” Free Press, Oct. 4, 2022