US Elections 2020: Facebook prepares ‘emergency’ measures to calm possible violence

The US tech big Facebook might introduce emergency measures to manage viral content material in case of election-related conflicts and unrest within the United States, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing knowledgeable sources.

According to the media outlet, citing sources, Facebook intends to calm the potential violence with instruments that have been specifically developed for so-called international locations at-risk.

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“We’ve spent years building for safer, more secure elections. … We’ve applied lessons from previous elections, hired experts, and built new teams with experience across different areas to prepare for various scenarios,” Facebook spokesman Andy Stone mentioned, as quoted by the newspaper.

(Read: Trump, Biden to step up campaigning in closing week earlier than polls)

The instruments, which Facebook is planning to deploy, have been earlier designed for “at-risk” international locations and have already been utilized in Myanmar and Sri Lanka. They enable holding again the unfold of viral content material and decrease the brink for the identification of doubtless inflammatory posts.

Facebook will implement such measures solely in case of a vital state of affairs that will trigger election-related violence, the paper wrote, noting that if the corporate decides to make use of these instruments, they are going to rework the knowledge that hundreds of thousands of Americans obtain.

(Read: Nearly 59 million Americans have already voted, however await ballot outcome may very well be lengthy, says report)

The Wall Street Journal added that this plan has been criticized by some members of the Facebook group and the representatives of the Republican and Democratic events, who imagine that the implementation of content material regulation measures will hamper political dialogue.

The US presidential election, by which Trump is dealing with off Democratic nominee Joe Biden, is about for November 3. Early voting has already began in some states. (ANI/Sputnik)