Survey Results: Is Facebook Accountable For Election Misinformation?

This year, the responsibility of electoral integrity is falling on U.S. tech companies nearly as much as on the government. Blind, an anonymous professional network, with 3.6M verified users, took to the platform and asked its users the same two questions, to get a pulse on how tech VS Facebook employees felt about this accountability. 

  1. Do you believe it is the responsibility of Facebook to prevent misinformation about the election?
  2. Are you surprised by Zuckerberg’s stance given his previous “free speech” stance?

Key Findings as of 9/04- 9/09 (~1,500 Responses): 

    • 68% of surveyed tech professionals believe it is the responsibility of Facebook to prevent misinformation about the election
        • Contrasted by only 47% of Facebook employees
  • 33% of surveyed tech professionals are surprised by Zuckerberg’s stance given his previous “free speech” stance
        • Contrasted by only 27% of Facebook employee

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Thursday that the platform will not sell inventory for political ads in the week leading up to the election, in order to prevent last minute misinformation. Any alteration to Facebook’s political ad policies is noteworthy—especially given how rigidly Zuckerberg has stayed the “free speech” course until now. 

In addition to the new restriction, Facebook said it will link any post from a candidate attempting to declare victory before the final results are in to vote counts from Reuters and the National Election Pool.

Download the raw data: here.

These survey results suggest that Facebook’s employees disagree with other tech professionals about their hand in misinformation accountability. One user at Facebook writes, “It’s not Facebook’s job to sway voters one direction or the other. People are allowed to speak their minds, share their opinions, come to their own conclusions. If Trump is doing a good job swaying public opinion via social media, then it’s up to you and other concerned citizens to sway voters the other direction. Donate to campaigns. Volunteer. Vote. It’s not up to Facebook to decide this election. It’s up to us.”

“I believe our democracy is strong enough to withstand this challenge and deliver a free and fair election — even if it takes time for every vote to be counted,” Zuckerberg wrote in his Facebook post. “We’ve voted during global pandemics before. We can do this. But it’s going to take a concerted effort by all of us — political parties and candidates, election authorities, the media and social networks, and ultimately voters as well — to live up to our responsibilities.”