Leftist ‘Disinformation’ Police Pressure Meta To Run Election Interference On New Threads Platform
A group of left-wing organizations is pressuring Meta to develop a plan to combat so-called election “disinformation” on its recently launched Threads platform.
Earlier this month, nearly a dozen Democrat-aligned organizations led by Vote.org — a left-wing “get-out-the-vote” group dedicated to reaching demographics favorable to Democrats — sent a letter asking Meta to “release a robust plan to ensure the platform has strong election policies.”
“As Threads builds its audience, it is incumbent that you make it clear that the platform will not be a place where baseless conspiracies and unverified reports are allowed to proliferate,” the letter reads, taking specific aim at YouTube and Twitter for “recently tak[ing] concrete steps to allow election disinformation to thrive on their platforms.”
In an attempt to justify their bid for increased policing of alleged “disinformation,” Vote.org pointed to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol and state legislatures’ enaction of election integrity laws — which the group falsely classifies as “voter suppression laws” — as examples of the “real-world fallout” stemming from the “absence of strong protections” for so-called “election integrity.”
“While there is still much work to be done, we know that Facebook has devoted time and staff resources toward its election policies. Threads must do the same,” the document reads.
The letter also shows an apparent attempt by Vote.org and its co-signers to insert themselves into the company’s decision-making process. In the document’s closing paragraphs, the groups demanded Meta forfeit any and all information regarding its “proposed or in-place policies related to election integrity, disinformation, voting and elections.” The organizations also offered to meet with company officials to “discuss [such issues] further [and] provide input and recommendations.”
Additional left-wing groups that co-signed the letter include End Citizens United, Public Wise, and When We All Vote, among others.
While the use of quotes from Presidents Ronald Reagan and Franklin Roosevelt on its homepage may indicate some semblance of bipartisanship, Vote.org has a documented history of left-wing activism. In March 2021, for instance, the group publicly supported House Democrats’ “For the People Act.” More commonly known as HR 1, the unconstitutional bill sought to cement many of the non-secure voting practices used throughout the 2020 election into federal law and allow the federal government to oversee and control the electoral process.
Vote.org also voiced opposition to the July 2022 Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling that said the use of ballot drop boxes represents a violation of state law, claiming the decision “flies in the face of the promise of our democracy.” The group furthermore criticized Tennessee Republicans for expelling two of their Democrat colleagues from the state legislature earlier this year after the latter joined a mob of left-wing demonstrators in disrupting proceedings at the capitol. Vote.org’s statement did not, however, include condemnation of the leftist rioters who orchestrated the “siege” on the capitol.
It’s worth noting how Big Tech used the online policing of so-called “disinformation” and “misinformation” as a pretext to interfere in the 2020 presidential election. After the New York Post dropped its bombshell story on Hunter Biden’s laptop weeks before the 2020 contest, platforms such as Twitter and Facebook went out of their way to censor the story and prevent its reach.
On Twitter, users were not permitted to share the story, even via direct message. The platform further removed links and issued alerts that it may be “unsafe.” Meanwhile, Facebook announced shortly after the story broke that it would be “reducing [the story’s] distribution” pending verification by third-party “fact-checkers.”
Heavily involved in these company’s suppression of the story was the FBI, which had authenticated the laptop as early as November 2019 but nonetheless warned Twitter and Facebook to be on the lookout for “Russian propaganda” and “hack-and-leak operations” by state actors in the months leading up to the election.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted during a Joe Rogan podcast interview last year that Facebook’s decision to suppress the story was based on the FBI’s warning.
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
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