Liberals and conservatives bash Big Techs preparations for midterm elections – Washington Examiner

As Big Tech platforms such as Facebook and Google prepare for this year's midterm elections, liberals and conservatives alike are critical of the platforms' lack of transparency in regard to content moderation.

Since the 2020 election, conservatives have criticized major social media companies, saying their attempts to reduce misinformation have meant unfairly censoring content and banning users such as former President Donald Trump. At the same time, liberals have accused the platforms of allowing too much dangerous misinformation to spread.

Google announced Thursday its plan to help secure the midterm elections by outlining its policies on how to reduce election misinformation on Google Search and YouTube and explained how the company will equip campaigns and election workers with enhanced security tools.

Google said it plans to surface authoritative voices about the election based on certain news sources on its platforms while also trying to limit the spread of election misinformation, which it defines as content "that can cause real-world harm, like certain types of technically manipulated content, and content interfering with democratic processes.

Google also plans to help political campaigns enhance their security by providing them with free advanced protections from online attacks and cybersecurity threats and promised to provide more transparency when it comes to political advertising.

Other social media giants such as Facebook and Twitter are also expected to make similar announcements on their approach to election integrity in the coming months, with a focus on trusted news outlets, misinformation, and election security.

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Tech industry insiders say Google failed to shine a light on how it plans to deal with domestic actors who threaten elections and its rules around de-platforming users in the context of the election.

They didnt really get into the more controversial and tricky stuff regarding new and emerging threats to elections, who could be banned from the platform and why, said Katie Harbath, a former Facebook public policy director. Id like to see more transparency in general, like understanding how they plan to use labeling around election results, like when Trump falsely claimed he won and things of that nature."

Conservatives say Google cant be trusted when it comes to election integrity, suppressing misinformation, and elevating authoritative voices.

Google should voluntarily disclose their algorithms in reference to searches related to the midterm elections no one knows how theyll handle such info and they have their own agenda, said Dan Gainor, a vice president at the Media Research Center, a conservative media watchdog that tracks censorship on Big Tech platforms.

Facebook or Google could try to push one group of people to vote and not others or boost one candidate in searches over another. We just have no idea, they dont believe in transparency," said Gainor.

In its announcement Thursday, Google said it would continue to crack down on content that advances false claims that widespread fraud, errors, or glitches changed the outcome of any past U.S. presidential election.

Conservatives often cite Twitter's and Facebooks decision to block a story by the New York Post about Hunter Biden as an example of unfair censorship.

Conservatives in the tech industry say pressuring social media giants to change their election-related policies and practices and to be more transparent could backfire on Republicans.

If politicians and the public push too hard, then Google and Facebook will just decide to ban ads altogether, which will hurt Republicans much more than Democrats because the Left can still lean on legacy media, said Carl Szabo, a vice president and general counsel at NetChoice, an advocacy group that represents companies including Facebook and Google.

But its worth being skeptical and vigilant of Google or Facebooks definitions of election misinformation, which is why people can go to upstarts like Truth Social or Rumble to get well-rounded information to make the best decision, said Szabo.

The news publishing industry, however, supports Googles decision to boost authoritative voices in the media landscape.

Election misinformation is best tackled by limiting micro ad-targeting and amplifying trusted media voices and brands that people have known for a long time and have credibility, said Jason Kint, the CEO of digital content trade association Digital Content Next, which represents a large number of prominent news publishers.

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Authoritative is measured in different ways, but established brands like any local news outlet, Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, these all have some authority with the public, said Kint.

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Liberals and conservatives bash Big Techs preparations for midterm elections - Washington Examiner