Friend, what happens on social media can have a powerful influence on the offline world, especially during elections. Bad actors mislead voters by spreading disinformation and bigotry across platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube.

The results of that disinformation are felt not just in the polling booth but on the streets, where — as we saw on Jan. 6, 2021 — disinformation about election results can lead to real-world violence.

With our partners in the Change the Terms coalition, we met with Meta, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube throughout the summer of 2022, calling on each company to implement safety mechanisms as soon as possible and to share more data about their enforcement practices around election integrity.

Over the last several months, we continued to follow up with the companies in writing but received no substantive response from Meta, Twitter or YouTube. So we did some exhaustive research to consider how prepared the companies are for what lies ahead.

Unfortunately, we found that the problem is just as dire in advance of the 2022 midterm elections as it was during the 2020 election cycle. And while the platforms claim they’re on top of things, that’s not what our report uncovered.

We’re ramping up the call for these social-media companies to stop making empty promises and show the courage to #FixTheFeed — will you join us by adding your name to our petition today?

While Meta, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube claim to have crafted and enforced new policies addressing the spread of toxic content, these claims are difficult for independent auditors to verify. The companies’ websites are tangles of contradictory policies and standards that are practically impossible to unravel.

With the U.S. midterm elections imminent, online disinformation has continued to proliferate at an alarming pace. The need for the platforms to do more is growing more urgent by the day. Their failure to take our recommendations seriously will be felt most acutely by voters, and could lead to more of the kinds of violence we saw at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The more people we have on board, the more difficult it will be for social-media companies to ignore our call. Add your name to our petition demanding that they truly #FixTheFeed:

https://act.freepress.net/sign/ctt_fp_petition_social_cos/

Together, we can win this fight.

In solidarity,

Nora and the rest of the Free Press team
freepress.net

P.S. Although tech companies had promised to fight disinformation and hate on their platforms this fall, there is a notable gap between what the companies say they want to do and what they actually do in practice. When we said our findings were dire, we weren’t kidding. You can review our full report here and channel your anger into action by signing the petition here.