Facebook Introduces Political Petitions Feature

Facebook wants to be more than just the place that you share photos, links, and funny videos. Come 21st of January, 2019, Facebook has plans to roll out a new feature called Community Action which basically provides a place for users to discuss their political views in a more constructive and productive way.

As you can see in the screenshot above, users can create petitions and tag the relevant politicians that they want who they think might be able to help them and their causes. In the example above, it shows how a user can create a petition about the park being too littered with rubbish, and that maybe recycling bins should be added to help curb the issue.

Other users who see this petition will be able to click the “Support” button which basically lends their name to the numbers, so clearly a petition will more supporters might be more noticeable compared to others. Users will also be able to leave their thoughts and comments, similar to group posts.

However there is the question of abuse and whether or not such posts might end up being filled with trolls who leave behind abusive and hateful comments. Facebook claims that they will be relying on user flagging, proactive algorithms, and human moderators who will help keep these discussions “clean”.

Tyler Lee
Categories: General
Tags: Facebook