Facebook launched a new tool Thursday to help millions of Americans register to vote and keep up with election changes this fall.
The Voting Information Center, billed as a "one-stop shop to give people in the U.S. the tools and information they need to make their voices heard at the ballot box," will live on both Facebook and Instagram. The campaign was modeled after the social media platform's Covid-19 Information Center, which offers users updates from public health officials.
Facebook created its new tool following a surge in voting by mail and other election changes caused by the coronavirus pandemic. But the social media company has been sharply criticized by Democrats and voting rights advocates for not fact-checking or removing President Trump's false and misleading claims about mail-in voting fraud.
Upon opening the Voting Information Center, users will be asked to register to vote or check their registration status. Facebook aims to register at least 4 million Americans — an important component given registration rates have plummeted across the country due to Covid-19.
Users can also see if their states are sending every voter a mail-in ballot or if the absentee voting eligibility requirements have been expanded. The tool will direct users to state election websites and other nonpartisan resources for more information.f
Facebook
The initiative will encourage users to become a poll worker this fall. Because much of the typical election workforce is older, and therefore more vulnerable to the coronavirus, states have been struggling to recruit enough staff in time for the general election. In addition to a sign-up feature, Facebook will give free advertising credits to state election administrators for recruitment purposes.
To help stop the spread of misinformation, Facebook has partnered with the Bipartisan Policy Center, a politically neutral think tank, to author content about election deadlines, voter registration, voting by mail and other related topics.
"The keys to a functioning democracy are that every eligible voter has the opportunity to participate and the election outcome is trusted and accepted by candidates and the general public," BPC President Jason Grumet said. "In a moment of information overload, BPC welcomes the opportunity to provide voters with unbiased facts about the election process."
Last month, Facebook began labeling posts made by elected officials that refer to the election or voting. Those labels connect users to additional information and resources, but do not go as far as correcting any misinformation shared. In its latest announcement, Facebook said it will extend the labels to all election-related posts.
"This isn't a judgment on whether those posts or ads are accurate. It's a way to ensure that people can access accurate election information without searching around," Facebook says.
Civil and voting rights groups have commended Facebook for providing critical election information and resources to users, but they say the social media company isn't doing enough to combat harmful and misleading content on its platform.
"Facebook must also do more to combat the weaponization of voting and election disinformation and misinformation on its platform. Our democracy depends on it," said Vanita Gupta, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition of more than 200 civil rights groups.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a“ Steel Across America” event ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11th attacks on the Ellipse near the White House on Sept. 8, 2026 in Washington, D.C. President Trump welcomed 9/ 11 first responders to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation’ s“ Steel Across America” event featuring a 16,900- pound, 21- foot steel beam recovered.
For Trump, even 9/11 is an opportunity
There was a reason organizers of the 9/11 ceremony in Manhattan told President Trump he could not speak at this year’s memorial service.
A good one, it turns out.
Because in a speech he gave on Tuesday in Washington, he did exactly what they were presumably worried about — he made it about himself.
According to The New York Times, Trump had wanted a speaking role at the service, but the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum, which oversees the site, said no, as they’ve maintained for the past decade-plus that the venue and event should be nonpartisan.
Trump has long used awful tragedies to either puff himself up, trash political opponents, or sell lies to the American people.
He blamed a deadly plane crash at Washington National Airport last year on diversity, equity and inclusion policies. He blamed Puerto Ricans for the devastation they endured after Hurricane Maria in 2017. He reportedly considered withholding disaster relief after the California wildfires based on the way affected regions voted. In an interview on Fox News meant to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, he used the occasion to slam former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi…with graves of the dead behind him.
And now, as we approach the 25th anniversary of what many New Yorkers consider the darkest day in modern history, Trump has done it again.
He told a rambling, nonsensical story — one he’s told before — about going to Ground Zero just after terrorists flew two commercial jets into the twin towers. In the story, which no one has been able to verify, despite multiple attempts, he says firefighters had to carry him out of One Liberty Plaza, also known as the U.S. Steel Building, because they thought it was about to collapse.
As CNN fact checker Daniel Dale notes, there’s no evidence Trump went into this building, especially at a time when NYPD and NYFD had locked down the area. There’s no evidence that building was collapsing — in fact, it was deemed structurally sound and reopened within two months of the attacks. There’s no evidence he was carried out of it by firefighters.
But the lie isn’t even the worst part. Pretend it was all true — why would the leader of our country, and a New Yorker, decide to make that tragic day about himself?
Because that’s who Donald Trump is. He’s a malignant narcissist.
He’s also, incidentally, a terrible and ineffectual president, who’s made ill-fated decisions that he has to keep defending, and there’s nothing he won’t do to make himself look and feel better.
Within the first two minutes of his speech, he was cravenly using 9/11 to justify and promote his dumb war in Iran — two events separated by 25 years and 6,000 miles.
“And I will tell you, we’re right now fighting because we have a certain nation that wanted a nuclear weapon, they were very close to getting it, and now they have no chance at getting it. They will never have a nuclear weapon. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. And they’ve been punished greatly. As you know, we’ve really taken it to them.”
As a New Yorker who lived through 9/11, still one of the worst days of my life, I’m utterly sickened by Trump’s crass, political, and self-promotional framing of that awful day.
And I’m relieved he won’t be given a platform to do it again on Friday’s anniversary in lower Manhattan.
Because for Trump, everything is his for the taking, and absolutely nothing is sacred.
S.E. Cupp is the host of "S.E. Cupp Unfiltered" on CNN.