“The nonprofit MapLight launched new, free tools today aimed at combating the spread of false and deceptive election-related information ahead of the 2020 election, including a browser plug-in called the Election Deception Tracker as well as a Text-to-Report line for people to report misleading information. The new tools allow anyone to quickly and easily report deceptive or problematic election-related information to help protect the election and reduce the spread of false information online. The Election Deception Tracker, available for free as a browser extension on the Chrome and Firefox web browsers, allows users to capture and report content directly from their Facebook feeds. Reported information will be sent to a MapLight database, and a team of researchers and election protection advocates will analyze the content, publicize the existence of problematic information to pressure Facebook to improve its screening, and push for removal of organized efforts to spread false or misleading information by contacting executives at Facebook…

The Election Deception Tracker and Text-to-Report line are intended to help users capture organized, institutional efforts that intentionally mislead people about candidates or the election, misleading information about how to participate, fake accounts that misrepresent their affiliation, and attempts at voter suppression or intimidation. The Election Deception Tracker allows users to choose from five different tags to categorize content they report, including “voting,” “candidates,” “violent threat / hate speech,” “election results,” and “fake or misleading account.”…