海角大神

Ever since Russian agents and other opportunists abused its platform in an attempt to manipulate the 2016 United States presidential election, Facebook has insisted 鈥� repeatedly 鈥� that it鈥檚 learned its lesson and is no longer a conduit for misinformation, voter suppression, and election disruption.

But it has been a long and halting journey for the social network. Critical outsiders, as well as some of Facebook鈥檚 own employees, say the company鈥檚 efforts to revise its rules and tighten its safeguards remain wholly insufficient to the task, despite it having spent billions on the project. As for why, they point to the company鈥檚 persistent unwillingness to act decisively over much of that time.

鈥淎m I concerned about the election? I鈥檓 terrified,鈥� said Roger McNamee, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist and an early Facebook investor turned vocal critic. 鈥淎t the company鈥檚 current scale, it鈥檚 a clear and present danger to democracy and national security.鈥�

The company鈥檚 rhetoric has certainly gotten an update. CEO Mark Zuckerberg now casually references possible outcomes that were unimaginable in 2016 鈥� among them, possible civil unrest and potentially a disputed election that Facebook could easily make even worse 鈥� as challenges the platform now faces.

鈥淭his election is not going to be business as usual,鈥� Mr. Zuckerberg wrote in a September Facebook post in which he outlined Facebook鈥檚 efforts to encourage voting and remove misinformation from its service. 鈥淲e all have a responsibility to protect our democracy.鈥�

Yet for years Facebook executives have seemed to be caught off guard whenever their platform 鈥� created to connect the world 鈥� was used for malicious purposes. Mr. Zuckerberg has offered multiple apologies over the years, as if no one could have predicted that people would use Facebook to live-stream murders and suicides, incite ethnic cleansings, promote fake cancer cures, or attempt to steal elections.

While other platforms like Twitter and YouTube have also struggled to address misinformation and hateful content, Facebook stands apart for its reach and scale and, compared to many other platforms, its slower response to the challenges identified in 2016.

In the immediate aftermath of President Donald Trump鈥檚 election, Mr. Zuckerberg offered a remarkably tone-deaf quip regarding the notion that 鈥渇ake news鈥� spread on Facebook could have influenced the 2016 election, calling it 鈥渁 pretty crazy idea.鈥� A week later, he walked back the comment.

Since then, Facebook has issued a stream of mea culpas for its slowness to act against threats to the 2016 election and promised to do better. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think they have become better at listening,鈥� said David Kirkpatrick, author of a book on Facebook鈥檚 rise. 鈥淲hat鈥檚 changed is more people have been telling them they need to do something.鈥�

The company has hired outside fact-checkers, added restrictions 鈥� then more restrictions 鈥� on political advertisements and taken down thousands of accounts, pages, and groups it found to be engaging in 鈥渃oordinated inauthentic behavior.鈥� That鈥檚 Facebook鈥檚 term for fake accounts and groups that maliciously target political discourse in countries ranging from Albania to Zimbabwe.

It鈥檚 also started added warning labels to posts that contain misinformation about voting and has, at times, taken steps to limit the circulation of misleading posts. In recent weeks the platform also banned posts that deny the Holocaust and joined Twitter in limiting the spread of an unverified political story about Hunter Biden, son of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, published by the conservative New York Post.

All this unquestionably puts Facebook in a better position than it was in four years ago. But that doesn鈥檛 mean it鈥檚 fully prepared. Despite tightened rules banning them, violent militias are still using the platform to organize. Recently, this included a foiled plot to kidnap the governor of Michigan.

In the four years since the last election, Facebook鈥檚 earnings and user growth have soared. This year, analysts expect the company to rake in profits of $23.2 billion on revenue of $80 billion, according to FactSet. It currently boasts 2.7 billion users worldwide, up from 1.8 billion at this time in 2016.

Facebook faces a number of government investigations into its size and market power, including an antitrust probe by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. An earlier FTC investigation socked Facebook with a large $5 billion fine, but didn鈥檛 require any additional changes.

鈥淭heir No. 1 priority is growth, not reducing harm,鈥� Mr. Kirkpatrick said. 鈥淎nd that is unlikely to change.鈥�

Part of the problem: Mr. Zuckerberg maintains an iron grip on the company, yet doesn鈥檛 take criticism of him or his creation seriously, charges social media expert Jennifer Grygiel, a Syracuse University communications professor. But the public knows what鈥檚 going on, they said. 鈥淭hey see COVID misinformation. They see how Donald Trump exploits it. They can鈥檛 unsee it.鈥�

Facebook insists it takes the challenge of misinformation seriously 鈥� especially when it comes to the election.

鈥淓lections have changed since 2016, and so has Facebook,鈥� the company said in a statement laying out its policies on the election and voting. 鈥淲e have more people and better technology to protect our platforms, and we鈥檝e improved our content policies and enforcement.鈥�

Professor Grygiel says such comments are par for the course: 鈥淭his company uses PR in place of an ethical business model.鈥�

Mr. Kirkpatrick notes that board members and executives who have pushed back against the CEO 鈥� a group that includes the founders of Instagram and WhatsApp 鈥� have left the company.

鈥淗e is so certain that Facebook鈥檚 overall impact on the world is positive鈥� and that critics don鈥檛 give him enough credit for that, Mr. Kirkpatrick said of Mr. Zuckerberg. As a result, the Facebook CEO isn鈥檛 inclined to take constructive feedback. 鈥淗e doesn鈥檛 have to do anything he doesn鈥檛 want to. He has no oversight,鈥� Mr. Kirkpatrick said.

The federal government has so far left Facebook to its own devices, a lack of accountability that has only empowered the company, according to U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Washington Democrat who grilled Mr. Zuckerberg during a July Capitol Hill hearing.

Warning labels are of limited value if the algorithms underlying the platform are designed to push polarizing material at users, she said.聽

鈥淚 think Facebook has done some things that indicate it understands its role. But it has been, in my opinion, far too little, too late.鈥�

This story is reported by The Associated Press.