December 2020

Facebook told lawmakers it blocked or removed 265,000 posts for violating the social network’s policies against voter interference and rejected 3.3 million ad submissions as part of its effort to protect the recent US elections against misinformation and foreign influence. The action was cited in a 22-page report summarizing the company’s election work that was distributed Dec 18 to a wide array of members of Congress as well as officials in the outgoing Trump administration and incoming team of President-elect Joe Biden.

Michael Pack, the Trump appointee who oversees the government’s global media operations, is moving to shut down a federally funded nonprofit that helps support internet access around the world, a decision that could limit people’s ability to get around constraints in places that tightly control internet access, like Iran and China.