Facebook’s Civil Rights Audit
due to COVID-19 concerns, Facebook worked with the Ohio Secretary of State’s office and ran a notification at the
top of the News Feeds of Ohio users on the original election date confirming that the election had been moved and
providing a link to official Ohio elections information. Where election deadlines have been changed, Facebook has
been incorporating those changes into its voting products and reminders so that users receive registration or election
day information on the correct, updated dates.
In order to prevent suppression and provide access to accurate information, Facebook has committed to continuing
to focus attention and resources on COVID-19’s implications for elections and the census. The company represents
that it will continue to work with state election officials as they make plans for the fall, recognizing that COVID is
likely to impact fall general elections as well.
C. New Elections/Census Developments and Commitments
Since the last report, Facebook has made a number of improvements and new commitments related to promoting
census and voter participation, addressing suppression, preventing foreign interference, and increasing transparency.
These developments are detailed below.
1.
Promoting Census Participation
Facebook has taken a number of steps to proactively promote census participation. Because this is the first year
that all households can complete the census online, Facebook has a new opportunity to spread awareness of the
census and encourage participation. Working in partnership with the US Census Bureau and other non-profits,
Facebook launched notifications in the two weeks leading up to Census Day that appeared at the top of Facebook
and Instagram feeds, reminding people to complete the census and describing its importance. The notifications
also included a link to the Census Bureau’s website to facilitate completion of the census. Between Facebook and
Instagram, more than 11 million people clicked on the notification link to access the Census Bureau’s website where
the census could be completed.
Facebook has provided training to organizations leading get-out-the-count outreach to under-represented and hard to
count communities, as well as state and local governments, on how to best to leverage Facebook tools to encourage
census participation. Facebook also committed $8.7M (in the form of monetary and ad credit donations) with the
goal of supporting census coalitions conducting outreach to undercounted communities — African American, Latinx,
Youth, Arab American, Native American, LGBTQ+, and Asian American communities and people with disabilities
— to ensure an accurate count and broad national reach. Facebook recognizes that this support has likely been even
more important to organizations as they shifted to digital outreach strategies and engagement in light of COVID-19.
Facebook states that donations supported work intending to highlight the importance of completing the census, and
provide information about how to get counted, and therefore were directed toward actions such as phone banking,
peer-to peer messaging, and digital and media engagement.
2.
Promoting Civic Participation
Facebook has a host of products and programs focused on promoting civic participation. It has stated that it
coordinates closely with election authorities to provide up-to-date information to its users.
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