Facebook’s Civil Rights Audit concern to the civil rights community because of the disease’s disproportionate impact on racial and ethnic groups, seniors, people who are incarcerated or in institutionalized settings, and the LGBTQ community among other groups. COVID-19 has also fueled an increase in hate crimes, scapegoating and bigotry toward Asians and people of Asian descent, Muslims and immigrants, to name a few. Lastly, civil rights groups are concerned that minority groups have been targeted to receive COVID-19 misinformation. Since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a public health emergency in January, Facebook has taken aggressive steps to remove misinformation that contributes to the risk of imminent physical harm. (While the company does not typically remove misinformation, its Community Standards do allow for removal of misinformation that contribute to the risk of imminent violence or physical harm.) Relying on guidance from external experts, such as the WHO and local health authorities to identify false claims, Facebook has removed false claims about: the existence or severity of COVID-19, how to prevent COVID-19, how COVID-19 is transmitted (such as false claims that some racial groups are immune to the virus), cures for COVID-19, and access to or the availability of essential services. The list of specific claims removed has evolved, with new claims being added as new guidance is provided by experts. Facebook has also started showing messages in News Feed to people who have interacted with (e.g., liked, reacted, commented on, shared) harmful misinformation about COVID-19 that was later removed as false. The company uses these messages to connect people to the WHO’s COVID-19 mythbuster website that has authoritative information. Facebook also updated its content reviewer guidance to make clear that claims that people of certain races or religions have the virus, created the virus, or are spreading the virus violate Facebook’s hate speech policies. Facebook has similarly provided guidance that content attempting to identify individuals as having COVID-19 violates Facebook’s harassment and bullying Community Standards. Facebook’s proactive moderation of content related to COVID-19 is, in the Auditors’ view, commendable, but not without concerns. Ads that have patently false COVID-19 information have been generated and not captured by Facebook’s algorithm. The strength of its strong policies is not only measured in words, but also how well those policies are enforced. Nonetheless, the Auditors strongly recommend that Facebook take lessons from its COVID-19 response (such as expanding the staff devoted to this effort, a commitment to public education and vigorously strengthening and enforcing its policies) and apply them to other areas, like voter suppression, to improve its content moderation and enforcement. 7. Additional Auditor Concerns and Recommendations (i) Recent Troubling Content Decisions. The civil rights community found Facebook’s recent enforcement decision finding content posted by President Trump to be outside the scope of its Violence and Incitement Policy dangerous and deeply troubling because it reflected a seeming impassivity toward racial violence in this country. 53