Mark Zuckerberg ‘wants a kill switch to shut off political adverts’ after election day if Trump refuses to accept defeat
FACEBOOK founder Mark Zuckerberg has discussed a “kill switch” for political adverts if Donald Trump refuses to accept defeat in the upcoming presidential election.
Employees are laying out contingency plans in the event that Trump or his campaign attempts to use Facebook to delegitimize the results, according to the New York Times.
Zuckerberg and his team have discussed a “kill switch” to shut off political advertising after election day, as the adverts could be used to spread misinformation, as Facebook does not fact check them.
Facebook has recently been accused of amplifying disinformation and not controlling hate speech but so far, Zuckerberg has remained defiant in allowing free speech on the platform.
“People having the power to express themselves at scale is a new kind of force in the world — a Fifth Estate alongside the other power structures of society,” he recently said during a speech at Georgetown University.
However the news that the company is walking through various post-election scenarios, and potentially considering controlling which advertisements are posted, appears to show how seriously Zuckerberg is taking Facebook’s role in the presidential election.
Trump’s press secretary has already said Trump will not immediately accept the result if he loses.
Kayleigh McEnany told reporters that if Trump loses the election in November, he “will investigate ballots before the accepting result.”
Last week, Trump proposed a redo of the presidential election, saying once again that it will be “rigged.”
“It will end up being a rigged election or they will never come out with an outcome,” Trump said during a women’s suffrage event on Tuesday.
“They’ll have to do it again, and nobody wants that.”
Trump has begun laying the groundwork that November’s election could be “fraudulent” – a claim that is not based on any evidence.
At the center of his claims, is postal voting.
During a Fox News interview on Thursday night, Trump told Sean Hannity that Democrats will “steal” the election with mail-in voting.
“This is going to be the greatest scam in history,” he said. “This will be the most fraudulent election in history. It’s a terrible thing. They are trying to steal the election.”
There is no evidence to show that mail-in voting is any less secure than postal voting.
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Earlier this month, President Trump requested a mail-in ballot to vote in the Florida primary election.
Trump’s comments came a day after Hillary Clinton accused the president of trying to “steal” a victory in November during her Democratic National Convention speech, the New York Post reported.
“Joe [Biden] and Kamala [Harris] can win three million more votes and still lose,” she said. “Take it from me. We need numbers so overwhelming Trump can’t sneak or steal his way to victory.”