Are we really safe this time around?

In the past 4 years, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter “have spent billions of dollars improving their sites’ security, policies and processes” to ensure that the November 2016 election media misuse isn’t repeated.  Facebook alone has spent billions of dollars “beefing up its security operations” by hiring upwards of 35K employees to fight the misinformation and ensure “coordinated inauthentic behavior” used to spread false information is minimized.  In addition to the various measures to increase surveillance of negative information, Facebook has also increased measures to highlight accurate election information.  These actions taken to minimize the spread of misinformation are being enacted before, during, and after the election.

 

Twitter has taken similar steps and has even gone further in many ways.  For example, last year they banned political advertising entirely and began “labeling tweets by politicians if they spread inaccurate information or glorify violence.”  These additional measures will remain a permanent feature for Twitter irrespective of the election. 

 

YouTube has also taken various steps to minimize misinformation, such as featuring information about how and where to vote, “display a fact-check information panel” and “halt election advertising after the polls officially close.”  

 

But the question remains… even with the increased measures and surveillance being taken, have we and will we continue to be clear of misinformation surrounding the election?  Will it ever be enough?     

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/02/technology/facebook-twitter-youtube-election-day.html