Facebook is considering adjusting news feed as unrest erupts in US elections

Facebook is preparing to adjust its news feed if unrest erupts over next week’s presidential election in the United States. The interventions must ensure that posts that amplify the unrest are no longer distributed.

It concerns a set of measures that Facebook previously implemented in Myanmar, among others, writes The Wall Street Journal. The intention is that Facebook will not play a role in this way in the distribution of posts that incite riots. The measures could cause tens of millions of Americans to see a different news feed after logging in, the paper said.

The algorithm sets a lower limit for what the software sees as dangerous posts around elections in risk countries, the newspaper said. This makes it possible to limit more posts in reach more quickly so as not to further stir up unrest in a country.

Facebook, like other tech companies, has been preparing for the elections for some time with the aim of not being accused of interference this time. In the elections four years ago, many critics said that Facebook had played a role in the spread of fake news around the election and the company promised improvement.