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To: CEO Mark Zuckerberg and the Facebook team

Sign the Petition: Facebook must do more for our democracy

The Facebook Oversight Board has decided to uphold Facebook’s temporary suspension of former President Trump’s account. But the decision also allows the social media giant to reinstate Trump's account at any time over the next six months -- and whether they do or don’t, Facebook has let bad actors abuse the platform with impunity for too long, putting our democracy and real people’s lives in danger.

We call on Facebook to strengthen its civic integrity policies and close loopholes that Trump and others have exploited, start aggressively enforcing new and existing policies -- and stop outsourcing content moderation decisions to its inadequate, unaccountable Oversight Board.

Why is this important?

The Facebook Oversight Board just made a major decision that exposes serious flaws in the way that Facebook operates. And if we want the social media giant to make real changes to protect its users -- we must speak out right now.

The Oversight Board has officially upheld Facebook’s decision to suspend Donald Trump’s account. But board members gave an important caveat: they found that making the suspension “indefinite” was inappropriate -- and within six months, Facebook must decide whether to ban Trump permanently or let him back on the platform.

The simple fact is: we did not have to get to this point, had Facebook just implemented thorough civic integrity policies -- and committed to strongly and unilaterally enforcing them. But before, during, and after the 2020 election, Facebook constantly looked the other way when Trump and other bad actors abused the site to spread lies and amplify hate speech.

Disinformation on Facebook and other social media platforms has silenced voters, weakened trust in our civic institutions, and even incited real-world violence -- like the horrific January 6th attack on our Capitol. But Facebook has yet to show that it’s up to the task of consistently using its policies to protect its own users

For the sake of our democracy and the safety of the American people, Facebook must strengthen its civic integrity policies and close dangerous loopholes -- like the exception that allows political figures to put blatant disinformation in their ads. And the platform must stop relying on its Oversight Board -- a wholly inadequate body that is accountable to Mark Zuckerberg, not the public -- to make its content moderation decisions.

Plus, Facebook must start vigorously enforcing the policies it has already put in place to protect voters. That means consistently applying misinformation labels to inaccurate posts, cracking down on groups that glorify violence and amplify conspiracy theories, and more.

It’s time to demand better from this powerful social media giant. If you believe that Facebook must be held accountable for failing our democracy -- and must commit to protecting it going forward -- add your name today.

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Updates

2021-10-13 21:32:36 -0400

50 signatures reached

2021-05-24 21:52:20 -0400

25 signatures reached

2021-05-11 13:48:04 -0400

10 signatures reached