Facebook’s Civil Rights Audit (i) Election Day Reminders. On Election Day and the days leading up to it, Facebook is reminding people about the election with a notification at the top of their News Feed. These notices also encourage users to make a post about voting and connect them to election information. Facebook is issuing these reminders for all elections that are municipal-wide or higher and cover a population of more than 5,000 (even in years where there are no national elections) and globally for all nationwide elections considered free or partly-free by Freedom House (a trusted third party entity that evaluates elections worldwide). (ii) Facebook Voter Registration Drives. Facebook launches voter registration reminders via top-of-Feed notifications that provide voter registration information and deadlines, and connect people directly to their state government’s voter registration websites (where online registration is available; if online registration is not available, it links to a trusted third-party website, such as TurboVote). These notices also allow people to encourage their friends to register to vote via custom News Feed tools. (iii) Voting Information Center and Voter Participation Campaigns. On June 17, Facebook announced its planned Voting Information Center, which the company hopes will give millions of people accurate information about voting and voting registration. The company has set the goal of helping 4 million voters register this year using Facebook, Instagram and Messenger, and also use the Voting Information Center to help people get to the polls. Facebook’s goal is double the estimated 2 million people they helped register in both 2018 and 2016. Facebook surveyed potential voters and 62% said they believe people will need more information on how to vote this year than they needed in previous elections (presumably due to the impact of COVID-19 on voting). The Voting Information Center is modeled after the COVID-19 information center that the company deployed to connect users to trusted information from health authorities about the pandemic. Facebook intends to include in the Voting Information Center, information about registering to vote, or requesting an absentee or mail-in ballot, depending on the rules in their state, as well as information on early voting. Facebook reports that people will also be able to see local election alerts from their officials about changes to the voting process, and will include information about polling locations and ID requirements. Facebook is working with state election officials and other experts to ensure the Voting Information Center accurately reflects the latest information in each state. (Notably, the civil rights community is wary of Facebook relying solely on state election officials for accurate, up-to-date information; both recent and historical examples of state election officials not providing accurate information on Election Day underscore why the civil rights community has urged Facebook to also partner with non-partisan election protection organizations.) The information highlighted in the Voting Information Center will change to meet the needs of voters through different phases of the election like registration periods, deadlines to request a vote-by-mail ballot, the start of early voting, and Election Day. Starting this summer, Facebook will put the Voting Information Center at the top of people’s Facebook and Instagram feeds. Facebook expects more than 160 million people in the US will see the Voting Information Center from July through November. 28