Facebook’s Civil Rights Audit The civil rights community’s response to Facebook’s announcement of the Voting Information Center was measured. While they generally viewed it as a positive development, they were clear that it does not make up for the company’s seeming failure to enforce its voter suppression policies (as described in Section E.1 below) and recent decisions that allow viral posts labeling officially issued ballots illegal to remain up. In order for users to see the information in the Voting Information Center, they have to take an affirmative step of navigating to the Center or clicking on a link. They have to be affirmatively looking for voting information, whereas viral suppressive content is delivered right to users’ or shown in their News Feeds. For many users who view false statements from politicians or viral voting misinformation on Facebook, the damage is already done; without knowing that the information they’ve seen is false, they may not have reason to visit the Voting Information Center or seek out correct information. (iv) Vote-By-Mail Reminders. In response to COVID, Facebook added an additional product that gives people information about key vote-by-mail deadlines. Typically, this product is sent prior to a state’s vote-by-mail ballot request deadline in states where every eligible voter in the state is able to request an absentee ballot. The reminder links to more information about vote by mail and encourages people to share the information with their friends. (v) Sponsoring MediaWise’s MVP First-time Voter Program. Facebook is sponsoring MediaWise’s program to train first-time voters on media literacy skills in order to make them more informed voters when they go to the polls this November. MediaWise’s program includes a voter’s guide, in-person (pre-COVID) and virtual training and awareness campaigns. This program has reached 8 million first time voters since January 2020, and will continue to reach additional first-time voters in the lead up to the general election. (vi) Partnering with Poynter to Launch MediaWise for Seniors. Older Americans are increasingly engaged on social media, and as a result, they’re exposed to more potential misinformation and false news stories. In June 2020, the Poynter Institute expanded its partnership with Facebook to launch the MediaWise for Seniors program. The purpose of this program is to teach older people key digital media literacy and fact-checking skills — including how to find reliable information and spot inaccurate information about the presidential election as well as COVID-19 — to ensure they make decisions based on fact and not fiction. Facebook reports that through this partnership, MediaWise will host a series of Facebook Lives teaching media literacy, working with Poynter’s PolitiFact, create two engaging online classes for seniors on Poynter’s e-learning platform, News University, and launch a social media campaign teaching MediaWise tips across platforms. 3. Labeling Voting Posts Civil rights groups have expressed considerable concern about potential voting misinformation on the platform, especially in light of Facebook’s exemption of politicians from fact-checking. In light of these concerns, civil rights groups have urged Facebook to take steps to cabin the harm from voting misinformation. Facebook announced on June 26, 2020 that posts about voting would receive a neutrally worded label that does not opine on the accuracy of the post’s content, but directs users to the Voting Information Center for accurate voting 29