Facebook unveils new 2020 presidential election features but refuses to limit inflammatory Trump posts

New 'Voter Information Centre' will aim to boost turnout, and users will be able to switch off political ads

Mark Zuckerberg on screen speaking during a joint hearing on Capitol Hill in April (AFP/Getty)

Facebook is launching new features to encourage turnout and educate voters – while once again refusing to limit the reach of Donald Trump’s inflammatory posts.

The company will launch a “voting information centre” that aims to encourage citizens to vote as well as offer authoritative information about how to do so.

It will also allow users to switch off certain political ads, though acknowledged that the feature may be imperfect.

Unveiling the features, Mark Zuckerberg also responded to ongoing questions about his response to controversial posts by the president on Facebook. In a series of posts, Mr Trump appeared to encourage violence and spread false information about voting – but Mr Zuckerberg once again indicated that Facebook would not label or limit the spread of those posts, unlike Twitter.

The new information centre will show up on the feeds of people in the US later this summer, ahead of November’s presidential election, when Mr Trump will run against Joe Biden.

The tool will take information from state election officials and local authorities, Facebook said, and will include details on registering to vote, polling places and voting by post.

It will draw the information from state election officials and local authorities.

The information hub, which will be prominently displayed on people’s Facebook news feeds beginning on Wednesday – and on Instagram later in the summer – is similar to the coronavirus information centre the company launched earlier this year in an attempt to elevate facts and authoritative sources of information on Covid-19.

Facebook and its chief executive continue to face criticism for not removing or labelling posts by Mr Trump that spread misinformation about voting by mail and, many said, encouraged violence against protesters.

Earlier this month, Mr Zuckerberg wrote: “I know many people are upset that we’ve left the president’s posts up, but our position is that we should enable as much expression as possible unless it will cause imminent risk of specific harms or dangers spelled out in clear policies.”

In a USA Today opinion piece on Tuesday, Mr Zuckerberg reaffirmed that position.

“Ultimately, I believe the best way to hold politicians accountable is through voting, and I believe we should trust voters to make judgments for themselves,” he wrote.

“That’s why I think we should maintain as open a platform as possible, accompanied by ambitious efforts to boost voter participation.”

Facebook’s free speech stance may have more to do with not wanting to alienate Mr Trump and his supporters while keeping its business options open, critics suggest.

Dipayan Ghosh, co-director of the Platform Accountability Project at Harvard Kennedy School, said Facebook “doesn’t want to tick off a whole swathe of people who really believe the president and appreciate” his words.

In addition to the voting hub, Facebook will also now let people turn off political and social issue ads that display the “paid for by” designation, meaning a politician or political entity paid for it.

The company announced this option in January but it is going into effect now.

Sarah Schiff, Facebook’s product manager, cautioned that the social media company’s systems “aren’t perfect” and encouraged users to report “paid for by” ads they see if they have chosen not to see them.

Additional reporting by agencies