Facebook Tells Users Angry With Trump to Vote Instead of Complain; Announces Plan to Register 4 Million Voters

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Facebook said Wednesday it’s trying to stop hate speech — but that users angry about President Donald Trump’s “inflammatory rhetoric” should visit the ballot box. To that end, the website said it will be launching a voter registration campaign with the aim of signing up 4 million American voters by November.

“Facebook has come in for much criticism in recent weeks following its decision to allow controversial posts by President Trump to stay up, and misgivings on the part of many people, including companies that advertise on our platform, about our approach to tackling hate speech,” Nick Clegg, Facebook’s global communications chief, wrote in a Wednesday op-ed. “I want to be unambiguous: Facebook does not profit from hate.”

More than 400 brands pulled advertising from Facebook effective Wednesday, including Starbucks and London-based consumer goods company Unilever, in response to a “Stop Hate for Profit” boycott campaign started by groups including the Anti-Defamation and NAACP after the May 25 death of George Floyd.

The campaign has a 10-point list of demands for Facebook, including that the company establish a “C-suite level executive with civil rights expertise” and “stop recommending or otherwise amplifying groups or content from groups associated with hate, misinformation or conspiracies.” They are also asking the site to “ensure accuracy” by “eliminating the politician exemption,” which would require the company to weigh in on the accuracy of statements published by Trump and other politicians.

Clegg, who served as the United Kingdom’s deputy prime minister for five years before joining Facebook, said complaints the company failed to act against hate speech were unfounded, noting a European Commission study that found Facebook outpaced Twitter and YouTube in assessing hate speech reports — responding to 95.7 percent within 24 hours — and removed “99 percent” of content linked to ISIS and Al Qaeda “before anyone reports it to us.”

He also said it was up to voters to take action if they took issue with Trump’s statements, and that Facebook would be rolling out a function later this week to help with voter registration. “We understand that many of our critics are angry about the inflammatory rhetoric President Trump has posted on our platform and others, and want us to be more aggressive in removing his speech,” Clegg wrote. “As a former politician myself, I know that the only way to hold the powerful to account is ultimately through the ballot box.

“That is why we want to use our platform to empower voters to make the ultimate decision themselves, on election day. This Friday, every Facebook user of voting age in the U.S. will be given information, prominently displayed on the top of their News Feed, on how to register to vote,” he added, calling it “the largest voter information campaign in U.S. history, with a goal of registering 4 million voters.”

He also said Facebook had been updating policies to “crack down” on voter suppression. “Many of these changes are a direct result of feedback from the civil rights community,” Clegg wrote. “We’ll keep working with them and other experts as we adjust our policies to address new risks as they emerge.”

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