A new campaign is putting pressure on Facebook to combat Spanish-language misinformation.
The Real Facebook Oversight Board is a collaborative effort including advocacy groups like the National Hispanic Media Coalition and the Center for American Progress.
Its campaign 鈥淵a Basta Facebook鈥� 鈥� or 鈥渆nough is enough, Facebook鈥� 鈥� is that the social media giant address its , which the groups as 鈥渁 crisis that is pushing extreme disinformation and hate to Spanish-speaking communities in the United States.鈥�
An of COVID-19 misinformation on Facebook published in April 2020 by the human rights group Avaaz found that 70% of Spanish-language content deemed incorrect was not removed or labeled as such, compared to 30% of the same content in English.
The call to action has gained the support of Congressman Tony Cardenas, D-Calif. During a Real Facebook Oversight Board on Tuesday, Cardenas said the federal government can step in if Facebook doesn't improve its Spanish-language content moderation.
鈥淭here are two ways in which the federal government can enforce, and force, these organizations to do the right thing, and that is through laws and that is through regulations,鈥� Cardenas said. 鈥淯nfortunately, believe it or not, some of my colleagues are not committed to making sure that we hold these platforms accountable. But I think we're going to have more success this time than we have in the past.鈥�
On Thursday, March 25, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will testify before the Energy and Commerce Committee, of which Cardenas is a member.
Cardenas says it's a critical time to act with COVID-19 vaccines rolling out because the Latino community is especially vulnerable.
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