According to non-profit research group Avaaz, Facebook failed to add fact check labels to the majority of virtual posts containing misinformation about elections, particularly in Georgia, despite a multitude of promises that the company would focus on combatting fake news this election cycle. This could have swayed Georgia voters and affected the outcome of the election, in which there was just a 12,000 vote difference between winner Joe Biden and sitting president Donal Trump.
Facebook employed third-party fact-checkers and Facebook employees to determine the validity of social media posts pertaining to the election, yet failed to input their rulings in 60% of top-performing posts containing false election claims. For 30% of these harmful posts, there was no label inserted at all. According to Avaaz, by not applying the labels the Facebook algorithm continues to amplify them.
