(RTTNews) - Facebook said Tuesday that it has helped 4.4 million people register to vote for the upcoming U.S. presidential election on November 3, exceeding the tech giant's goal of helping 4 million voters to register.
In June, Facebook said it created a new voting information center to provide voters with authoritative information, including how and when to vote. The company noted that the voting information center will also provide details about voter registration, voting by mail and information about early voting.
The social media giant launched the initiative as part of its efforts to boost voter turnout in the U.S. after the coronavirus pandemic impacted the traditional voter registration drives. Facebook's 'Rock the Vote' campaign in 2016 had helped 1.7 million people register to vote.
"This year, we launched the largest voting information campaign in U.S. history, with the goal of helping 4 million people register to vote. Today, we hit our goal. We estimate we've helped 4.4 million people register across our apps -- based on conversion rates we calculated from states we've partnered with," CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post.
In June, Facebook said it will allow U.S. users to turn off seeing political ads in their Facebook and Instagram feeds. The company made the feature available to users as part of its preparations for the presidential elections.
Facebook said earlier in October that it would ban ads that seek to delegitimize the Presidential election between October 27 and November 3. The announcement was in line with the social media giant's decision to prohibit ads that make premature declarations of victory as it aims to protect the integrity of the upcoming U.S. election.
In September, Facebook also decided not to accept any new political ads in the week before the election as well as remove posts which claim that people will get COVID-19 if they take part in voting.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing informed sources, that Facebook may introduce emergency measures to regulate viral content in the event of election-related conflicts and unrest in the U.S. These tools were specially developed by Facebook for so-called countries at-risk.
In mid-October, Twitter also said it has taken additional steps to prevent any manipulation or interference in the upcoming U.S. elections or other civic processes through misleading tweets. The micro-blogging site announced significant product and enforcement updates to enable the smooth conduct of the democratic process.
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