Advocates press Facebook to combat Spanish-language disinformation

Racial justice and internet accountability advocacy groups launched a campaign Tuesday pressuring Facebook to take action to combat what they called a crisis of Spanish-language disinformation on the social media platform.

The organizations released a Spanish-language disinformation action plan that calls for Facebook to hire an executive-level manager to oversee U.S. Spanish-language content moderation policy and enforcement as part of the larger #YaBastaFacebook campaign.

Lawmaker support: Rep. Tony Cárdenas (D-Calif.) joined the organizations’ push for Facebook to crack down on such disinformation, and said he will question Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg about his plans to address the issue during next week’s House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing.

In response to the campaign, a Facebook spokesperson said the company is taking “aggressive steps to fight misinformation in Spanish and dozens of other languages,” but did not directly address whether Facebook will implement the changes the groups are calling for in the action plan.