Facebook’s plan to stop Donald Trump declaring victory early in US election

The social media platform was caught off guard at the 2016 election, but this time around it wants things to be different.

Social media giant Facebook will “add a label” if any US election candidates try claiming an unverified win on election night as reports surface that the incumbent President will attempt to declare “premature victory”.

Australian journalist Jonathan Swan became a worldwide meme in August after a viral interview with President Donald Trump aired on Axios on HBO, and he was back again on Monday morning with the scoop the President was planning to declare victory on the night of November 3 if it looks like he’s ahead.

There is unlikely to be an official result on election night as large numbers of postal votes need to be counted.

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An unprecedented number of Americans have been voting by mail (despite some attempts to prevent them) due to long lines and large crowds on election day – ordinarily an annoyance but now an existential threat due to the coronavirus.

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A voter dropping off his mail in ballot at the Salt Lake County election office in Utah last week. Picture: George Frey/AFP

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While Mr Trump, and other politicians, may try to claim victory on election night, Facebook won't be having it.

Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg has previously announced the steps it will take to make sure his company isn’t used to spread misleading information, or sow doubt, about the outcome of the election.

“If any candidate or campaign tries to declare victory before the results are in, we’ll add a label to their post educating that official results are not yet in and directing people to the official results,” he said.

“There could be a period of intense claims and counterclaims as the final results are counted,” Mr Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook page in September, adding the company was preparing to help after votes are cast on Tuesday.

Facebook’s “Voting Information Centre” will “prepare people for the possibility that it may take a while to get official results” and also provide “authoritative information about election results”.

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Mark Zuckerberg is trying to stop his social media company being used to interfere with the US election, and hopefully avoid another trip to testify in front of Congress. Picture: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

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Like it does with its fact-checking operations, Facebook will rely on third parties to provide this information.

In this case it will be the news agency Reuters and the National Election Pool (a consortium of news outlets conducting exit polls at ballot stations).

The Pool is currently comprised of (the American) ABC News, CBS News, CNN and NBC News, after Fox News and the Associated Press left following less than accurate results at the 2016 election.

Facebook is trying to avoid a repeat of the chaotic 2016 US election and the scandals that followed and have brought in a suite of new measures in an attempt to prevent its platform being exploited in ways that could adversely impact on the ballot and democracy in general.

According to at least one former employee, Facebook places a larger emphasis on issues in the United States – where it was founded, based and can be regulated – than it does in other countries it operates in and the company is going to quite an effort to try and ensure the integrity of the US election this time around.