How does Facebook affect our elections?

Katie Baneck

Kb271219@ohio.edu

Illustration by Katie Baneck

The 2020 election took place in a bizarre time in American history. Then, misinformation and political polarization were the norms, and they still are today. Along with those alarming aspects of our media environment, information is more accessible than it has even been. It is also much easier for everyday people to share content.

We can thank many of these things to Facebook and other social media giants like it. For example, Facebook played a huge role in supporting the spread of misinformation leading up to the 2020 election. But unfortunately, Facebook did not update its algorithm until October 2020– it was much too late at that point.

If Facebook had adjusted the site's algorithms earlier, they could have potentially prevented the massive amount of misinformation that was shared leading up to the election.

The social media site has had plenty of issues regarding elections and politics here in the United States. In the past, there has been controversy over how easily one can buy a political ad anonymously. 

The lack of fact-checking by Facebook has allowed for wildly inaccurate content to be shared on its platform. As a result, users tend to interact more with inaccurate posts filled with misinformation.

Both sides of the political spectrum have had issues with Facebook's handling of political speech on its site. Democrats often criticize Facebook for allowing too much information and the company's lax approach to addressing misinformation. 

Conservatives, on the other, have felt targeted by Facebook's blocking of posts and accounts featuring political misinformation. However, these claims have not been supported by research.

You may ask yourself, how do we fix this? Well, it is a big problem with many different aspects to think about. 

First, we can start with Facebook and other social media sites. There needs to be more rigorous fact-checking along with community guidelines that do not support hate speech or misinformation to reduce the spread of information.

Another key factoring to fixing the media environment here in the United States is increasing education about news and how to find information online. Media literacy can be significant to many aspects of people's lives, and it can be taught at home. 

We can also strive to "make social media kinder." We can work to make Facebook and other social media sites like it less hostile. If we can be nicer online, we can be more caring in all aspects of society.