During the campaign of then-Democratic candidate Joe Biden in 2020, there was a rise in misinformation on major social media platforms regarding the upcoming election, especially on Facebook. Recent emails obtained by CNN revealed that the Biden campaign was brushed off by the platform after the campaign repeatedly warned of violent rhetoric.
The emails obtained by CNN revealed the frustration the Biden campaign had with major social media platforms like Facebook possibly contributing to the violent rhetoric brought on during the campaigns in 2020. The emails expressed the concern by the Democratic Party regarding misinformation spread on Facebook especially as Election Day drew near. The concerns only increased following the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol, when the platform was often used by those involved to plan the riots.
It is because of these concerns that the same campaign officials of the Biden campaign feared that this may also have an effect on the 2022 elections moving forward. Some of the most worrying concerns happened to come from the manner in which former President Donald Trump and his family made use of the platform. To note, Trump has been suspended from Facebook following the insurrection.
The Biden campaign emailed Facebook back in September, regarding a video shared by the Team Trump account featuring Donald Trump Jr. pushing the baseless claim that the Democratic Party was planning to use millions of ballots considered fraudulent. Trump Jr. also called on his father’s supporters to form an election security “army” for the now-former president.
“The fact that this video is still on your platform — and is being used to recruit some sort of, and I quote, ‘army for Trump’s election security effort’ — is astounding. It is impossible to reconcile this with any of the policies regarding voting and voter suppression that Facebook has released over the past 3 years and emphasized to us privately in several dozen conversations,” wrote the Biden campaign official.
In other news, Biden traveled to North Carolina where he promoted the importance of getting vaccinated against COVID-19. This is part of his administration’s efforts to get more people vaccinated against the virus. This also comes as administration officials have expressed concerns regarding unvaccinated individuals that could potentially spread new variants of the coronavirus.
In his speech to those present, Biden had warned of the delta variant and how it is becoming a common variant in the country.