General Election Day Flags
Wednesday, October 28th, 2020
Below is a guide to flagging problematic content on and after Election Day. Some content will require immediate offline action, including law enforcement, and others can be raised with the platforms or resolved with strategic communication.
Voting Process Flags: Flagging posts signaling an offline problem that should be addressed ASAP
- Threats of violence or images of violence at the polls. Flag to law enforcement if necessary.
- Voter intimidation – threats of harassment or harm. Flag to law enforcement if necessary.
- Voter suppression – claims polling locations have closed or moved, claims votes are no longer being counted, claims of long lines or equipment problems.
Voting Process Disinformation: Misleading claims that should be removed or refuted ASAP
- Misleading posts about procedures of voting –claims voters can vote by text, email, or phone, claims voters need extra requirements to participate like identification or citizenship proof (laws differ by state), false statements about official voting information like times or locations, false claims about officials (i.e. “they won’t count your vote if you don’t bring 4 pieces of ID and a tax return”).
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Disinformation About Voting or Results
- Claims of voter fraud – claims such as election rigging, illegal “ballot harvesting,” ballot tampering (i.e. throwing out ballots), vote tallying, switching ballots, etc.
- Claims of hacked or biased machines.
- Claims about the media’s inaccurate reporting (i.e. if the media shows practice results on accident).
- If a candidate or campaign declares victory and it is not already labeled by the platform.
- If media or random accounts incorrectly post claiming victory or results.
- Post-election, in the event of recounts – potential state specific flags around recount processes.
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Candidate Attacks + Disinformation
- Threats of violence or harassment towards a candidate. Flag for law enforcement.
- Articles or posts with false information with fact checks. Facebook will only label articles with a certified fact check so please try to flag along with a fact check on Election Day.
- Articles or posts requiring a fact check.
- Nefarious impersonations – impersonations sowing discord or giving false information.
- Other impersonations – impersonations posting little or no content.
- Posts that contain sexually explicit images or references.
- Posts with hate speech – platforms may or may not remove; may require flag for law enforcement.
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