Friend,

Social-media lies undermine public health, public safety and our democracy.

Free Press’ new report, Big Tech Backslide, analyzes a year’s worth of policy rollbacks, layoffs and reinstatements of extremist accounts to show how the major social-media platforms are harming the democratic fabric of our society.

We found that Big Tech companies have ditched the election-integrity policies they implemented prior to the November 2020 vote — and with the next presidential election looming, these startling failures could not come at a worse time.

Every online platform we examined has committed these digital sins, but under Elon Musk’s erratic leadership, Twitter has been the worst offender.

This toxic online environment is vulnerable to exploitation from anti-democratic forces, white supremacists and other extremists. Could you join us in demanding that social-media companies protect user safety and election integrity before it’s too late?

This problem couldn’t be more urgent: Scores of elections will occur internationally this year, with people around the world depending on social-media platforms for crucial information about candidates, issues, voting logistics and election results.

Thanks for all you do,

All of us at the Free Press Action
freepress.net

P.S. You can read more about Big Tech Backslide in this Guardian article.

Friend,

This is a solemn day. Three years ago, months of online deceit and hate speech culminated in the violent Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. And social-media companies are doing less than ever before to stop the spread of the “Big Lie” and other election-related disinformation.

Free Press Action recently released our latest report on this very topic: Big Tech Backslide: How Social-Media Rollbacks Endanger Democracy Ahead of the 2024 Elections. The report explores how companies like Meta, Twitter and YouTube have ditched crucial policies they had adopted prior to the November 2020 vote that had helped protect user safety and the integrity of our elections. Our colleague Nora Benavidez even testified before the Canadian Parliament about some of Free Press Action’s findings.

The public wants social-media platforms to prioritize content moderation and shut down the firehose of disinformation — but instead these companies have:

• changed their policies to allow deceitful political ads;
• reinstated and monetized previously banned accounts from thousands of white nationalists and other extremists;
• given AI tools access to our personal data; and
• laid off entire teams devoted to election integrity, content moderation and fact checking.

Every online platform we examined has committed these digital sins, but under Elon Musk’s erratic leadership, Twitter has been the worst offender.

Join us in demanding better: Big Tech companies must restore safeguards to combat disinformation and protect our democracy.

The cold reality is that we’re running out of time to address these dangers. Our report offers crucial recommendations to reverse the damage before it irrevocably alters the makeup of our society and democracy. We’re calling on companies to:

• Reinstate and bolster disinformation policies.
• Enforce strong rules for political ads across all languages.
• Hold “VIP” and politician accounts to the same standards as those of other users.

We need your help now more than ever, friend: Add your name to our petition urging Big Tech companies to take the threat of disinformation seriously in 2024.

Thanks so much for your support,

Candace and the rest of the Free Press Action team
freepress.net

P.S. You can read the full Big Tech Backslide report on our website.