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Thursday, June 11, 2020

The Hill’s Campaign Report: Biden campaign goes on offensive against Facebook

 
 
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Welcome to The Hill’s Campaign Report, your daily rundown on all the latest news in the 2020 presidential, Senate and House races. Did someone forward this to you? Click here to subscribe.

We’re Julia Manchester, Max Greenwood and Jonathan Easley. Here’s what we’re watching today on the campaign trail. 

 

LEADING THE DAY: 

Joe Biden’s campaign is going on the offensive. Their target: Facebook. 

In an open letter to the social media site’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, the former vice president called on Facebook to "proactively stem the tide of false information" by fact-checking viral election-related information that appears on the site. He also asked that the website fact check political ads that run in the two-week period preceding the Nov. 3 presidential election. The campaign is also getting its supporters involved in the effort, asking them to sign on to a petition demanding changes to Facebook’s current hands-off approach to political information. 

“With fewer than five months until the 2020 election, real changes to Facebook's policies for their platform and how they enforce them are necessary to protect against a repeat of the role that disinformation played in the 2016 election and that continues to threaten our democracy today,” campaign spokesperson Bill Russo said in a statement. “We are urging our supporters to make their voices heard in this call for change.”

The offensive from the Biden campaign comes amid a larger debate over the role social media platforms play in the country’s political and social discourse. Democrats and civil rights leaders say that companies, including Facebook, have a duty to prevent, or at least stymie, the spread of false or hateful information. Already, some sites have taken steps to push back against misinformation. Twitter, for example, moved last month to pin fact-checking notifications to two of President Trump’s tweets about voter fraud.  

Conservatives seized on Twitter’s actions as evidence that social media companies operate with political agendas that favor Democrats.

Facebook responded to Biden’s demands on Thursday, saying that if people want more oversight of the information posted on its website, it is up to lawmakers — not political campaigns — to pass new rules and regulations.

"Just as they have done with broadcast networks — where the US government prohibits rejecting politicians’ campaign ads — the people’s elected representatives should set the rules, and we will follow them," the company wrote. "There is an election coming in November and we will protect political speech, even when we strongly disagree with it.”

--Max Greenwood
 

READ MORE:

Biden campaign calls on Facebook to change political speech rules, by Max Greenwood.

 

FROM THE TRAIL:

President Trump is preparing to return to the campaign trail after a three-month hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic. He’s set to attend a fundraiser in Dallas on Thursday and will hold his first rally since March 2 in Tulsa, Okla., on June 19. The return to campaigning comes as Trump has seen his poll numbers dive in recent weeks amid criticism over his handling of the coronavirus outbreak and, more recently, the widespread protests over police brutality and racial injustice. The Hill’s Morgan Chalfant and Brett Samuels report.

Stacey Abrams, the 2018 nominee for Georgia governor who is seen as a prospective vice presidential pick for Biden, said she hasn’t heard from the Democratic nominee’s campaign as it begins to vet potential running mates. “I have said many times that if called I will answer, but I have not received any calls,” Abrams said Wednesday night on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” The Hill’s Tal Axelrod reports.

Another potential VP pick, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), has found herself walking a fine line in the debate over police reform. As many advocates and lawmakers get behind calls to defund police departments, Harris has sought to clarify what that actually means, framing it as a conversation about how local resources are allocated among various priorities. How she handles the issue could make or break her chances of joining Biden on the ticket in November. The Hill’s Alex Bolton reports.

The executive committee of the Republican National Committee (RNC) voted unanimously on Wednesday to scale back its national convention in Charlotte, N.C., and move President Trump’s acceptance speech and other high-profile events to a new location, The Hill’s Justine Coleman reports. The decision comes after North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) said that Republicans would likely not be able to hold a full-scale convention in Charlotte, due to the coronavirus pandemic. The GOP has yet to formally announce a new location for the gathering, though people familiar with the discussions say that Jacksonville, Fla., is currently the top contender.
 

PERSPECTIVES:

Edward Larson: “The case for Elizabeth Warren”

 

CONGRESS & STATES:

Jon Ossoff, the 33-year-old investigative journalist whose unsuccessful 2017 House bid captured national attention, won the Democratic Senate primary in Georgia on Wednesday after a voting process marked by chaos and confusion. Ossoff needed to clear 50 percent of the vote to win the nomination outright and avoid a runoff — no easy task considering that he faced a half-dozen opponents, including two well-funded candidates. Even as late as Wednesday afternoon, Ossoff declined to say whether an outright victory was within reach, because votes were still being tallied. With the nomination shored up, he’s set to face off against Sen. David Perdue (R) in November. The Hill’s Max Greenwood reports.

Voting reform advocates are warning the chaos seen during Georgia's primary elections on Tuesday portends widespread problems in November if federal measures are not taken to expand mail-in voting and address other election challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Maggie Miller reports.

 

POLL WATCH:

ECONOMIST/YOUGOV – NATIONAL

Biden: 49% (+2)

Trump:  41% (+1)

 

CYGNAL – FLORIDA PRESIDENTIAL

Biden: 47%

Trump: 43.8%

 

MARK YOUR CALENDARS:

(Keep in mind these dates could change because of the outbreak.)

June 23:

Kentucky primaries

New York primaries

Virginia primaries

Mississippi primary runoffs

North Carolina primary runoffs

South Carolina primary runoffs

 

June 30:

Colorado primaries

Oklahoma primaries

Utah primaries

 

July 7:

New Jersey primaries

Delaware primaries

 

July 11:

Louisiana primaries

 

July 14:

Alabama primary runoffs

Texas primary runoffs

Maine primaries

 

Aug. 4:

Arizona primaries

Kansas primaries

Michigan primaries

Missouri primaries

Washington primaries

 

Aug. 11:

Connecticut primaries

Minnesota primaries

Vermont primaries

Wisconsin primaries

Georgia primary runoffs

 

Aug. 18:

Alaska primaries

Florida primaries

Wyoming primaries

 

Aug. 17-20:

Democratic National Convention

 

Aug. 24-27:

Republican National Convention

 

Sept. 1:

Massachusetts primaries

 

Sept. 8:

New Hampshire primaries

Rhode Island primaries

 

Sept. 15:

Delaware primaries

 

Sept. 29:

First presidential debate

 

Oct. 7:

Vice presidential debate

 

Oct. 15:

Second presidential debate

 

Oct. 22:

Third presidential debate

 
 
 
 
 
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