Thread by @TTP_updates

NEW: Facebook had a big PR push around its voter registration drive –but it got off to a slow and halting start amid complaints by the Trump campaign

Emails obtained by TTP show that FB walked back its initiative promises, frustrating some state officials techtransparencyproject.org/articles/faceb…

On June 16, Facebook first announced the company would be launching a Voting Information Center, a key element in Facebook’s effort to register 4 million new voters.

The center was supposed to run from July-November, starting July 3 about.fb.com/news/2020/06/v…

In a @USAToday op-ed on June 17, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook would be embarking on the “largest voting information campaign in American history”
usatoday.com/story/opinion/…

Zuckerberg’s June 17 op-ed was met with pushback from the Trump campaign.

The campaign’s digital director, Gary Coby tweeted “They will register more of Biden’s voters than Trump’s. They will heavy up on Biden registrations in swing states.”

Facebook had initially planned to push register-to-vote reminders to users on July 3 & July 4, across Facebook, Instagram, & FB Messenger, emails obtained by TTP show.

The emails indicate that despite the Trump campaign’s claims, the reminders exhibited no pro-Biden strategy

But just one week later on June 30, a Facebook government outreach manager, Eva Guidarini, told state election officials the effort would be limited to July 3 and “just run on Facebook.” She did not explain why.

documentcloud.org/documents/7032…

Vermont state election officials seemed to be caught off-guard by the decision, according to emails obtained by TTP

“Good lord,” Vermont’s elections director Will Senning wrote as he forwarded the message to the state’s secretary of state and his staff. documentcloud.org/documents/7032…

As Facebook scaled back its initial voter registration plans following the Trump campaign's criticism, it also appeared reluctant to get into the details of mail-in voting in the July registration drive—steering clear of an issue that became a frequent target of President Trump

On June 23, an Illinois State Board of Elections public information officer asked Facebook govt outreach managerRachel Holland, if Facebook could add a line to the July register-to-vote reminder telling Illinois residents they can request a mail-in ballot documentcloud.org/documents/7032…

But on June 30, Holland appeared to reject the idea. Citing unspecified “feedback,” she said Facebook had “opted to generalize the language” of the reminder to make it “apply to as many states as possible.” She said Illinois could include mail-in voting info on its own website

Facebook is taking a more direct approach to mail-in voting with its new Voting Information Center, which gives users a way to request a mail-in ballot or explore the options in their state. @NYTnickc

nytimes.com/2020/08/13/us/…

But Facebook took its time rolling out the Voting Information Center, which Zuckerberg first promised on June 16. The company only recently announced its launch on August 13, nearly two months later.

https://twitter.com/fbnewsroom/status/1293804958786236416?s=20

TTP has also not seen the center running at the top of Facebook or Instagram feeds—something Zuckerberg promised.

Facebook also hasn’t specified its voter registration plans for Facebook Messenger, which the company has said will be part of the effort

facebook.com/zuck/posts/101…

Instagram, given its young user base, is a particularly ripe target for voter registration

Facebook's last minute decisions to shorten its July registration drive & drop it from Instagram leaves questions amid FB's goal of registering 4 million new voters techtransparencyproject.org/articles/faceb…

As Facebook emailed state officials with a variety of election updates this summer, officials in Vermont reacted disdainfully.

Senning, the state elections director, commented that one Facebook message sounded “like it was written by a fourth grader" documentcloud.org/documents/7032…

Senning's comment prompted a colleague to chime in, “They are really not putting much effort into working with us.”

documentcloud.org/documents/7032…

Another official, Eric Covey, the chief of staff for Vermont’s secretary of state, suggested a mock response to Facebook: “Facebook is that Russian asset my crazy uncle puts propaganda out on, right?”

documentcloud.org/documents/7032…

Meanwhile, the Trump campaign continues to complain about Facebook’s voter registration. Campaign spokeswoman Samantha Zager, told @technology @EricNewcomer on July 14 that FB has “knowledge of every user’s political ideology” & is aiming to help Biden. bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

Facebook's voter registration effort launched months late, scaled back, & appears to remain buried in menus & not at the top of feeds as promised

The scale back not only frustrated state officials, but leaves more questions about FB's political strategies techtransparencyproject.org/articles/faceb…