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TECHNOLOGY Saturday 27 June 2020
Facebook to label all rule-breaking posts - even Trump's

By BARBARA ORTUTAY
AP Technology Writer
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) —
Facebook said Friday that
it will flag all “newsworthy”
posts from politicians that
break its rules, including
those from President Don-
ald Trump.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg had
previously refused to take
action against Trump posts This combination of photos shows logos for social media platforms, from left, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
suggesting that mail-in bal- Associated Press
lots will lead to voter fraud, discourage voting, such and unpaid traffic tickets That European consumer- ter in the U.S.,” Unilever
saying that people de- as stories about federal at polls’ -- a classic voter product maker, Unilever, said. “Continuing to ad-
served to hear unfiltered agents checking legal sta- suppression disinfo tactic said it took the move to vertise on these platforms
statements from political tus at polling places. The -- and clearly mark posts as protest the amount of hate at this time would not
leaders. Twitter, by con- company also said it is in- disinfo, they might be use- speech online. Unilever said add value to people and
trast, slapped a “get the creasing its enforcement ful,” he said. the polarized atmosphere society.”q
facts” label on them. capacity to remove false But Zuckerman noted that in the United States ahead
“The policies we’re imple- claims about local polling Facebook “has a history of November’s presidential
menting today are de- conditions in the 72 hours of trying hard not to alien- election placed responsi-
signed to address the re- before the U.S. election. ate right-leaning users, and bility on brands to act.
ality of the challenges our Ethan Zuckerman, director given how tightly President The company, which is
country is facing and how of the Massachusetts Insti- Trump has aligned him- based in the Netherlands
they’re showing up across tute of Technology’s Cen- self with voter-suppressing and Britain, joins a raft of
our community,” Zucker- ter for Civic Media, said the misinfo, it seems likely that other advertisers pulling
berg wrote on his Face- changes are a “reminder Facebook will err on the back from online platforms.
book page announcing of how powerful Facebook side of non-intrusive and Facebook in particular has
the changes. may be in terms of spread- ignorable labels, which been the target of an es-
Zuckerberg said the so- ing disinformation during would minimize impact of calating movement to
cial network is taking ad- the upcoming election.” the campaign.” withhold advertising dollars
ditional steps to counter He said the voting labels Earlier in the day, shares to pressure it to do more to
election-related misinfor- will depend on how good of Facebook and Twitter prevent racist and violent
mation. In particular, the Facebook’s artificial intel- dropped sharply after the content from being shared
social network will begin ligence is at identifying the giant company behind on its platform.
adding new labels to all posts to label. brands such as Ben & Jer- “We have decided that
posts about voting that will “If every post that mentions ry’s ice cream and Dove starting now through at
direct users to authoritative voting links, people will soap said it will halt U.S. least the end of the year,
information from state and start ignoring those links. If advertising on Facebook, we will not run brand ad-
local election officials. they’re targeted to posts Twitter and Instagram vertising in social media
Facebook is also banning that say things like ‘Police through at least the end of newsfeed platforms Face-
false claims intended to will be checking warrants the year. book, Instagram and Twit-

Despite green pledges, Amazon's carbon footprint grew 15%

By JOSEPH PISANI sor at the Research Insti-
AP Retail Writer tute for Environment, En-
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon ergy and Economics at
said Tuesday that its car- Appalachian State Univer-
bon footprint rose 15% last sity, said his first reaction to
year, even as it launched Amazon's massive carbon
initiatives to reduce its footprint was, "Oh wow."
harm on the environment. But he said the company
The online shopping giant was comprehensive in cal-
said activities tied to its culating the number, even
businesses emitted 51.17 including the emissions
million metric tons of car- from shoppers' drives to its
bon dioxide last year, the Whole Foods grocery stores
equivalent of 13 coal burn- and the energy used to
ing power plants running make a Kindle tablet.
for a year. That's up from Amazon said that while its
2018, when it reported a carbon footprint grew, the In this Oct. 10, 2018, file photo, Amazon Prime boxes are
carbon footprint of 44.4 amount of carbon it emit- loaded on a cart for delivery in New York.
million metric tons. Ama- ted for every dollar spent Associated Press
zon disclosed its carbon on the site fell 5% between renewable energy by 2025, nology that help fight cli-
footprint the first time last 2018 and 2019. five years earlier than it had mate change.
year after employees pres- The Seattle-based com- planned. And on Tuesday, But the increase in its car-
sured the company to do pany also said it's on track Amazon announced it bon footprint shows how
more to combat climate to have 100% of its energy would start a $2 billion fund tricky it is for a rapidly-grow-
change. use come from solar pan- to invest in companies that ing company like Amazon
Gregg Marland, a profes- els, wind turbines and other make products and tech- to cut down on pollution.q