Local election officials are facing challenges in combating misinformation spread by Meta during elections.

• Local officials are raising concerns about Facebook ahead of the presidential election.
• Nearly a dozen regional and statewide officials with election-related duties have highlighted the challenges posed by Facebook.
• Officials stated that the combination of layoffs in trust and safety and customer service, along with Facebook prioritizing news, has made it challenging to combat misinformation.

Derek Bowens has never held such a significant position. Currently, he serves as the director of elections in Durham County, North Carolina, which is a key area in a state that is gaining importance as a swing state for the 2024 presidential election.

In July, a former precinct official emailed Bowens about a viral Facebook post containing voting misinformation, which prompted him to recognize the potential crisis.

The post, written by an authority, advised voters to request new ballots if a poll worker or anyone else wrote anything on their form, as it would be invalidated. This same incorrect message was spread on Facebook during the 2020 election, but the platform flagged the content as "false information" and linked to a story that debunked the rumor by Facebook's fact-checking partner, USA Today.

The North Carolina State Board of Elections issued a press release on Aug. 2, stating that false "posts have been circulating for years and have resurfaced recently in many N.C. counties." Bowens said no such tag appeared on the post.

Our state put out a press release and we started engaging with our constituency on it, which stopped the spreading of the issue, according to Bowens in an interview with CNBC.

The elections board posted on Facebook, urging voters to avoid false and misleading election information, and included a link to their website. As of Wednesday, the post had received eight comments and 50 shares. However, several Facebook users in states such as North Carolina, Mississippi, and New Jersey continue to share ballot misinformation without any warning that it is false.

A company spokesperson stated that Meta had sent posts with false information to third-party fact-checkers for further examination.

In the upcoming November 5th election, state and local officials are uncertain about what to anticipate from Facebook. As in the past two presidential elections, the spread of false information on the social network has posed a threat to disrupt voting in what is predicted to be another close contest decided by a small number of voters in a few key states. A recent Facebook post claiming that Haitian immigrants were eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, rapidly gained traction and influence after it was repeated by Republican nominee Donald Trump in a debate.

In 2016, Russian operatives used Facebook to spread false posts about Hillary Clinton to support Trump. In 2020, the platform was flooded with misinformation about politically charged topics such as Covid treatments, masking, and voter fraud.

In 2021, Meta began removing itself from the equation by pushing political and civic content lower in its algorithms, which contributed to a dramatic decline in news traffic last year for publishers. Earlier this year, Meta announced that it would deprioritize the recommendation of political content on Instagram and its Twitter-like Threads service, a move the company said more aligns with what consumers want to see on their feeds.

Government agencies struggle to combat the spread of false information on social media, as posts and comments amplify the misinformation and reach a wide audience.

Despite the decline in popularity among younger audiences, Facebook still had over 200 million daily users in the U.S. and Canada at the end of last year. Both Facebook and Instagram are among the top 10 most visited websites and popular apps in the U.S., according to Pew Research Center and Similarweb.

Government officials responsible for elections in various regions and states have disclosed the difficulties they face in utilizing and monitoring Meta's apps, as well as other social media platforms owned by Elon Musk. Despite working tirelessly to safeguard the election process, these officials claim they are receiving minimal assistance from these companies, which have reduced their trust and safety teams as part of broader cost-cutting measures initiated in 2022.

Meta, formerly known as Facebook, cut 21,000 jobs across various departments, including trust and safety and customer service, in multiple rounds of layoffs. Last year, CNBC reported that the company disbanded a fact-checking tool that would have allowed news services like The Associated Press and Reuters, as well as credible experts, to verify the trustworthiness of questionable articles by adding comments at the top. Although Reuters is still listed as a fact-checking partner, an AP spokesperson stated that the news agency's fact-checking agreement with Meta ended in January.

Meta's integrity efforts continue to lead the industry, with over 40,000 people globally working on safety and security, more than during the 2020 cycle. The company now partners with about 100 third-party fact-checking groups across the globe who review and rate viral misinformation in over 60 languages.

Challenges in Maricopa County

Arizona, like North Carolina, is among the seven swing states that will decide whether President Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, will win the presidency.

The communications director for the recorder's office of Maricopa County, Taylor Kinnerup, has been thrust into the limelight due to the current reality.

Kinnerup and her team utilize social media to disseminate current information regarding election procedures, such as the date for submitting early ballots and the location of polling stations. This task is especially crucial in the aftermath of Trump's unfounded allegations of voter fraud in Arizona during the 2020 presidential election, which saw the state vote blue for the first time since 1996.

During election season, Maricopa County frequently receives attention from Facebook users nationwide, with many of them being older and continuing to comment on debunked conspiracy theories, such as the myth that Sharpie markers spoil ballots.

Kinnerup emphasizes the importance of constant communication and transparency to the public, regularly sharing election-related content on Facebook and Instagram, especially during peak hours when it's most likely to reach voters.

Recently, Kinnerup found out that her office's Facebook and Instagram accounts were disconnected, which meant she could no longer access the apps using the same login information or schedule a post to appear on both platforms simultaneously.

Kinnerup stated that she faced difficulties resolving account issues with Meta prior to the primary elections in July. Despite engaging in a lengthy email exchange with multiple representatives, she found it impossible to make any progress. When she finally received a response, it was a generic statement that failed to address her concerns.

Kinnerup is currently managing media and constituent tours of the county's election facilities to address false rumors that the process is being manipulated, despite ongoing issues from the 2020 election. In June, she conducted over 20 tours.

Kinnerup stated that she couldn't spend every day dealing with Meta because she had to give tours. She added that the time spent trying to find a fix was a significant problem for her.

Kinnerup had resolved her account issues by mid-July, but her team had spent countless hours on the problem, leaving them feeling that the full message they were trying to convey was never fully understood.

Despite having her office's Facebook and Instagram accounts back online, Kinnerup notes that their organic social media posts receive minimal engagement. To increase their reach, her team has resorted to using sponsored ads. Additionally, her team has continued to conduct facility tours, leading 25 this month.

Since February, Meta has been conducting training sessions for state and local officials, educating them on tools such as voting alerts, which enable officials to send messages to their constituents.

Officials can reach us through various channels, including state and regional teams, and our response capability remains the same, the spokesperson stated.

Kinnerup stated that she was unaware of any of this and during her tenure in the role, she has not received any direct communication from Meta that she is aware of.

Bowens admitted in a follow-up email to CNBC that he was unaware of the sessions and the tools.

The Senate hearing last week on election threats saw Meta's head of global affairs, Nick Clegg, address concerns about the company's election preparedness. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, raised worries about the safety and integrity of "down-ballot races at the state level, county level, and local level."

According to Collins, intelligence agencies have informed senators that bad actors from China may be targeting regional races instead of the presidential election, and that state and regional officials are unlikely to receive the same level of briefings or information from Homeland Security or the FBI on how to stay vigilant.

Collins' concerns were justified, and Meta must maintain a constant vigilance.

Clegg stated that it is not enough for the economy to merely improve during the presidential elections.

'Three people will see it'

Scott McDonell, the Dane County clerk in Wisconsin, has found it challenging to share accurate voting information on Facebook from his office's official government account, which has only 608 followers on the platform. Despite his efforts, his posts receive minimal engagement compared to previous years.

"According to McDonell, if a link to an election security story is shared, three individuals will view it. He added that posts with images perform better on Facebook because people enjoy viewing pictures."

He advised against linking to an article as it would likely receive no views.

McDonell stated that his colleagues have been so frequently abused on Facebook in recent years that they no longer post about elections.

McDonell stated that on average, county clerks are scared of it and only perform the task to show off baby photos.

The chief deputy of the registrar-recorder/county clerk office in Los Angeles County, Jeramy Gray, stated that small government offices frequently lack the necessary resources to effectively use social media and resolve issues.

Gray stated that his office recently established a team to support him, and although the company is not considered a "perfect partner," it is the "most mature" of the major platforms.

Gray stated that he desired more engagement from them, specifically from a large national election, for at least three to four months, in order for them to connect with key stakeholders at the state and local level to discuss their plans or actions.

In Durham County, North Carolina, Bowens stated that tech platforms could greatly aid his office and others in clarifying what type of content is acceptable.

Bowens expressed concern about acting too aggressively due to potential censorship issues and acknowledged the ambiguity between misinformation and citizens exercising their First Amendment rights.

"Bowens stated, "Our election system in this country is quite diverse. The information on that post may be accurate in another state. So, is it misinformation?""

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