Name: Report: Facebook's misinformation checks on Georgia runoff are failing
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Report: Facebook's misinformation checks on Georgia runoff are failing

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Photo: Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty ImagesMisinformation is proliferating on Facebook about January's Senate election in Georgia despite the company's stated plans to keep conspiracy theories and falsehoods around the runoffs at bay, a new report from nonprofit human-rights group Avaaz finds.Why it matters: The Georgia runoffs are a huge test for the fact-checking and labeling abilities of Facebook and other social media companies, as President Trump and his allies continue to spread false theories about voter fraud.Catch up quick: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told lawmakers during a last month that Facebook planned to "have a similar approach in the upcoming Georgia special elections that we took during the general election" and that the company planned to make misinformation checks "more robust" in future elections.Yes, but: Misinformation around the Georgia runoffs is nevertheless running rampant on Facebook, Avaaz found.By the numbers: Facebook didn't issue fact-checking labels on 60% of a selection of Georgia-related election misinformation, Avaaz said.The big picture: It remains unclear just how much impact Facebook's policies are having on the spread of misinformation and inflammatory material.What they're saying: “Georgia voters are just weeks away from deciding the direction of the US Senate — and the direction of the country — and their News Feeds are being overrun with misinformation that could further erode trust in the election process and suppress turnout," said Fadi Quran, campaign director for Avaaz.The other side: "We share Avaaz’s goal of limiting misinformation," said Facebook spokesman Andy Stone, who noted the company has now fact-checked some of the content references in the report. "We remain the only company to partner with more than 80 fact-checking organizations, using AI to scale their fact-checks to millions of duplicate posts, and we are working to improve our ability to action on similar posts."The Justice Department is suing Facebook, alleging that the tech giant discriminated against American workers by intentionally reserving more than 2,600 jobs for immigrants on H-1B visas, the department .Details: The department's two-year investigation found that Facebook gave jobs to visa holders whom the company sponsored for green cards, while failing to properly advertise the open positions or consider U.S.-born workers.The number of people receiving unemployment benefits is falling but remains remarkably high three weeks before pandemic assistance programs are set to expire. More than 1 million people a week are still filing for initial jobless claims, including nearly 300,000 applying for pandemic assistance.By the numbers: As of Nov. 14, 20.2 million Americans were receiving unemployment benefits of some kind, including more than 13.4 million on the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) programs that were created as part of the CARES Act and end on Dec. 26.Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has urged President-elect Joe Biden to nominate Mary Nichols, chair of California's air pollution regulator, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, .Why it matters: The reported push by Schumer could boost Nichol's chances of leading an agency that will play a pivotal role in Biden's vow to enact aggressive new climate policies — especially because the plan is likely to rest heavily on executive actions.

Photo: Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty ImagesMisinformation is proliferating on Facebook about January's Senate election in Georgia despite the company's stated plans to keep conspiracy theories and falsehoods around the runoffs at bay, a new report from nonprofit human-rights group Avaaz finds.Why it matters: The Georgia runoffs are a huge test for the fact-checking and labeling abilities of Facebook and other social media companies, as President Trump and his allies continue to spread false theories about voter fraud.Catch up quick: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told...

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Tech policy reporter @Axios. Pittsburgh native. formerly: @POLITICO, @theinformation, @bbcnews. ashley.gold@axios.com

Ashley Gold

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Report: Facebook's misinformation checks on Georgia runoff are failing

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