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Social media giant Facebook has announced plans to place a ban on political ads in the platform a week before the US election.
In a post, it said that it would ensure to do a fact check on premature victory news, adding that if one of either candidate decides to declare himself the winner before the final results are in, “we’ll add a label to their posts directing people to the official results.”
In a post, co-founder of the platform, Mark Zuckerberg, said, “I’m concerned about the challenges people could face when voting. I’m also worried that with our nation so divided and election results potentially taking days or even weeks to be finalized, there could be an increased risk of civil unrest across the country.”
Fears of chaos caused by Donald Trump making false claims during the election have been raised by Democrats, as the election is scheduled to hold at a time of great inconvenience in the nation, as it battles a pandemic and civil unrest.
Currently, the United States remains a global epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic, with over 6 million cases, with registered voters – who make up about three-quarters of the country’s population – to vote using the mail-in voting system.
Officials say that the election results could very well be announced a day after the election.
Trump has, for weeks, made inflammatory claims that there are plans to oust him with a coup and that the mail-in voting system was designed to “rig” the elections against him.
Trump has shown a distaste for the mail-in voting system and has moved against funding the US Postal Service (USPS), stating the funds would be used to generate ballots.
Although the mail-in voting is a widely used system in the US, Trump claims that it is an attempt to gag the voters, which many claim is what the president would use as an excuse is he loses.
Zuckerberg in his post said, “This election is not going to be business as usual.
“We all have a responsibility to protect our democracy. That means helping people register and vote, clearing up confusion about how this election will work, and taking steps to reduce the chances of violence and unrest.”
