Shareholders Call on Meta to Limit Political Disinformation Before 2024 Election
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDIA CONTACT: Sophia Wilson, swilson@asyousow.org, (341) 600-1832
BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA—MAY 29, 2024—Today, Meta shareholders will vote on a proposal filed by shareholder representative As You Sow asking the company to assess the impact of reinstating “enhanced actions” put in place to protect the 2020 election and prohibiting political advertising on its platform prior to the 2024 election. The requested actions would reduce misinformation and hate speech on its platforms during another heated election cycle.
“In 2020, partly in response to a shareholder proposal, Meta put a ‘break-glass’ algorithm in place to stop misinformation about the election from going viral, preventing a cascading effect of misinformation that could have seriously harmed the legitimacy of our democratic election,” said Andrew Behar, CEO of As You Sow. “We are asking that Meta evaluate the benefits of putting these algorithms back in place and evaluate the risk of allowing political advertising that is not subject to fact-checking in the run-up to the election.”
Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram sell user information to political campaigns and others intent on influencing voting patterns. “Microtargeted” ads are often sources of misinformation, including intentional disinformation. Russia and other foreign countries have been found to use social media platforms to exploit divisions between U.S. users through ads, targeted posts, and pages. This activity is enabled by Facebook’s data collection practices, its dependence on ad sales, and its algorithms that promote viral content.
Platforms continue to sell user data even though, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey, 77% of U.S. adults find it unacceptable to sell data about their online activities for targeted political ads.
After shareholder and public engagement leading up to the 2020 election, Meta altered algorithms and took other actions to de-prioritize extremist postings and emphasize mainstream news content. After the election, despite promised plans to “evaluate” partner and content monetization policies, Meta removed those successful pre-election systems.
Behar continued, “Selling data for targeted political ads and abandoning successful ‘enhanced actions’ to halt amplification of false and misleading information is a material risk for shareholders that should be top-of-mind as we enter another contentious election.”
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As You Sow is the nation’s leading shareholder representative, with a 30-year track record promoting environmental and social corporate responsibility and advancing values-aligned investing. Its issue areas include climate change, ocean plastics, toxins in the food system, the Rights of Nature, racial justice, and workplace diversity. Click here to view As You Sow’s shareholder resolution tracker.