Facebook is reportedly taking some "emergency" steps to slow the spread of 2020 election misinformation.
The platform will be adding "more 'friction'" before users "can share posts and other content" and will "demote content on the News Feed if it contains election-related misinformation," as well as limit the distribution of Facebook Live streams related to the election, The New York Times reports.
These changes, the Times writes, are "designed to cool down angry Americans" as false claims about widespread voter fraud spreads online and President Trump baselessly asserts that he's being cheated out of a victory. A winner in the presidential race has yet to be called as several key battleground states continue to count legally cast votes.
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A Facebook spokesperson confirmed the news, in a statement saying that "as vote counting continues, we are seeing more reports of inaccurate claims about the election," and it will be taking temporary steps to "keep this content from reaching more people." The "emergency measures," Axios writes, are "like those used in countries where democracy is under threat."
Facebook had previously shut down a pro-Trump group called "Stop the Steal," which had amassed 360,000 members and that the company said "was organized around the delegitimization of the election process" and included "worrying calls for violence from some members."
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