Media Center

Facebook has once again missed the opportunity to be the adult in the room when it comes to checking the clear and present danger that Donald Trump poses to the nation on social media. Instead, the company and its founder Mark Zuckerberg decided to try to plunge headlong into a race to the bottom with Elon Musk and Twitter, irrespective of the threat to public safety and national security.

It would be dangerously irresponsible for the social media platforms to restore Donald Trump’s accounts and risk the further spread of disinformation, hate speech, and the potential for real-world violence. The former president proved himself a clear and present danger on social media on January 6th – and in fact well before that infamous day. He utilized Twitter, Facebook, and other platforms to assemble and incite the mob of insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol that day with tragic and deadly results.  

At a time when the freedom to vote remains under attack, Congress will provide a down payment in the omnibus spending bill to provide additional resources for election officials across the country who face a variety of threats and obstacles in helping Americans make their voices heard at the ballot box. This $75 million that Congress is allocating is only a fraction of the investment that will be required to protect our elections and the will of voters from threats both foreign and domestic.

The inclusion of the Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act in the omnibus spending package is a vital first step in protecting the votes and voices of all Americans. Enacting these reforms to ensure that the will of the voters will be respected and followed is particularly important in light of Donald Trump’s announcement that he is again running for the White House and his public call to terminate the U.S. Constitution in order to overturn the 2020 election and declare himself president. We know from the January 6th Select Committee that Trump knows he lost that election, but he continues to repeat his Big Lie despite the fact that his own appointees at the Department of Homeland Security declared that the 2020 election was “the most secure in U.S. history.”  

Today, the University of California Berkeley Center For Security in Politics issued a statement reporting on the conclusions of a Working Group convened with funding from Tusk Philanthropies to develop standards that would ensure internet voting can be secure and private. The Working Group concluded that it could not issue such standards, stating “the current cybersecurity environment and state of technology make it infeasible for the Working Group to draft responsible standards to support the use of internet ballot return in U.S. public elections at this time.” 

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in the important voting rights case Wednesday, Dec. 7.