As the U.S. approaches election season, Facebook is working to crack down on the spread of misinformation and to provide Americans with accurate information regarding the voting process.
The social media giant has launched the Voting Information Center, a "one-stop-shop" for everything voting-related, according to Emily Dalton, director of social impact product at Facebook.
"Starting today, everybody across the country will be able to go there to connect with authoritative information on topics like how to register to vote, how to vote by mail if that's available to them, and get local election alerts from election officials in the area," she explained.
Facebook launched the Voting Information Center, according to Dalton, after a successful run of its COVID-19 information center that reached "two billion people across the world."
"We'll be running campaigns that expect to reach 160 million people with this information. Our goal is to help four million people register and turn out to vote this year," Dalton explained.
While mail-in voting could potentially delay final election results, the company has already designated a section of the center to act as a hub for updates.
"We'll be featuring election results in the voting information center and keeping people updated with that information in the days following the election," Dalton said.
In the ongoing battle to fight misinformation on the social platform, according to Dalton, Facebook wants to provide a path for its users to find the truth.
"No matter what people are talking about, we want to make sure that they and their communities have the ability to get that clear authoritative information easily," she said.
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