Social media platforms—under fire for not doing enough to address United States election-related misinformation in 2016—have released a flurry of new policies in recent weeks and months to protect the integrity of the November 3, 2020 US election. But even well-intentioned efforts by private companies to rein in electoral misinformation can result in silencing political expression and dissent. In order to meet their responsibility to identify and mitigate harms on their platforms, they should ensure that any restrictions on content are necessary and proportionate, carried out in a transparent manner, and give users access to meaningful remedy.

Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, among others, have expanded and refined their policies to fight foreign interference and stem the spread of misinformation and disinformation intended to suppress the vote and delegitimize election results. Beyond taking down content and accounts that violate their policies, some platforms have begun labeling misleading or borderline content, directing users to third-party “authoritative” sources, and providing corrective information by engaging fact-checkers. They also attempt to reduce the reach of misleading posts by downranking them in their algorithms or otherwise limiting their spread. Some platforms created voter information centers with details on when, where, and how to vote and added a degree of transparency to their political advertising practices through ad libraries.

But the platforms’ policies on electoral misinformation have been released in a patchwork manner and are not uniform. Additionally, some policies are written in a way that gives platforms considerable leeway in their interpretation, which can lead to both harmful misinformation staying up and political expression being taken down.