During an Energy and Commerce Committee hearing, Congressman Darren Soto secured a commitment from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to boost moderation systems to avoid Spanish-language misinformation, especially during election season. The request from Congressman Soto was made along with claims of extensive Spanish-language false and misleading information that spread online in Florida during the 2020 election cycle.
“Mr. Zuckerberg, political misinformation spread rampantly in Spanish in Florida’s Hispanic community on Facebook in the 2020 Presidential election,” said Congressman Soto during the joint Communications and Technology Subcommittee and Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittee hearing titled, “Disinformation Nation: Social Media’s Role in Promoting Extremism and Misinformation.”
Congressman Soto went on to ask, “will you commit to boosting Spanish-language moderators and systems, especially during election season, to stop this from happening again?”
Zuckerberg agreed. “Congressman, this is already something that we focus on,” Zuckerberg said. “That’s certainly something that we hope to build on in the future.”
Watch Congressman Soto’s full questioning here.
