Facebook’s Civil Rights Audit policy, and other functions — and the ongoing support of a team of Executives who, in addition to their full-time positions, sit on the Civil Rights Task Force. It is also worth noting that, since the Audit started, the External Affairs team that manages relationships with the civil rights community has grown in both size and resources. This collective effort yielded a number of positive outcomes for civil rights that we detail in the report. The Seesaw of Progress and Setbacks The purpose of this Audit has always been to ensure that Facebook makes real and lasting progress on civil rights, and we do believe what’s listed below illustrates progress. Facebook is in a different place than it was two years ago — some teams of employees are asking questions about civil rights issues and implications before launching policies and products. But as I’ve said throughout this process, this progress represents a start, not a destination. While the audit process has been meaningful, and has led to some significant improvements in the platform, we have also watched the company make painful decisions over the last nine months with real world consequences that are serious setbacks for civil rights. The Auditors believe it is important to acknowledge that the Civil Rights Audit was a substantive and voluntary process and that the company used the process to listen, plan and deliver on various consequential changes that will help advance the civil rights of its users, including but not limited to: • Reaching a historic civil rights settlement in March 2019, under which Facebook committed to implement a new advertising system so advertisers running US housing, employment, and credit ads will no longer be allowed to target by age, gender, or zip code — and Facebook agreed to a much smaller set of targeting categories overall. Since then, the company has delivered on its commitment and gone above and beyond the settlement with additional transparency and targeting measures that are outlined in the report. • Expanding their voter suppression policies. When we started the Audit process in 2018, Facebook had a voter suppression policy in place, but it was more limited. At our urging, the policy is now much more expansive and includes threats that voting will result in adverse law enforcement consequences or statements that encourage coordinated interference in elections. In addition, the company adopted a new policy prohibiting threats of violence relating to voting, voter registration or the outcome of elections. Facebook has engaged two voting rights expert consultants to work with and train the policy, product, and operations teams responsible for enforcing against voter suppression. Nonetheless, recent decisions about Trump posts related to mail-in-ballots in Michigan and Nevada on May 20 and California on May 26 threaten that progress and permit others to use the platform to spread damaging misinformation about voting. Several other voting changes are identified in the elections chapter of the report. • Creating a robust census interference policy. Facebook developed robust policies to combat census interference. It has worked closely with the civil rights community to help ensure that the constitutionally mandated census count isn’t tainted by malicious actors spreading false information or engaging in campaigns 6