False is the enemy of free and fair
Business leaders’ call-to-action against false political advertising on social media
America paid a heavy price in 2016 elections when social media were abused to sow division and hatred. No matter your political leanings, for our democracy’s sake, we can’t afford another national election marred by false advertising in digital media. 2020 cannot be a repeat of 2016.
Millions of people rely on social media to connect, communicate, and share. These powerful tools have immense potential to enrich and enliven our democracy. Which is why it is so unfortunate that these important players in American life would willfully distribute political advertising that they know is false.
Last week, Facebook ran a political ad that CNN and all NBCUniversal cable networks refused to air because the ad made patently false accusations.
The trust and reputation of social media platforms, and in our electoral process in turn, are undermined by the industry’s inaction. Tacitly condoning the spread of false information in political advertising is irresponsible and wrong, and damaging to our democracy.
False is the enemy of free and fair.
That’s why today we are calling on fellow business leaders in the social media industry to do the right thing:
1. Refuse to run false political advertising on their platforms
2. Establish baseline standards of substantiation and accountability that other media have
We also call on each of the 2020 presidential candidates to do their part — publicly commit to not running false advertising on social media. Stand by your ads.
And finally, we challenge our fellow citizens to do their part — don’t confuse false speech for free speech. Each one of us must do our part to protect and guard our democracy, and move our country forward.
###
The individuals listed below have endorsed in their personal capacity. They do not reflect the endorsement of any organization, corporation or entity to which they are affiliated. Titles and affiliations of each individual are provided for identification purposes only
The undersigned
We’re receiving a strong response and co-signatories are being added as confirmations are received. If you would like to co-sign, please fill this short FORM
Faruq Ahmad, Founding Partner, Palo Alto Capital Advisors — San Francisco, CA
Ibrahim AlHusseini, Managing Partner, FullCycle Climate Partners — Los Angeles, CA
Shaun Arora, Managing Partner, Make in LA Capital — Chatsworth, CA
Jeff Berman, Co-Founder, Magnet Companies––Los Angeles, CA
Joseph Blasi, J. Robert Beyster Distinguished Professor, Rutgers University––New Brunswick, NJ
Sandra Braman, Abbott Professor of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University––College Station, TX
Anjan Chimaladinne, Vice President, Anshultech––Chantilly, VA
David Chun, CEO, Equilar––Palo Alto, CA
Kristine Cornwall, Director, Product Marketing, NetApp––Sunnyvale, CA
Michael D’Amico III, Investor––Memphis, TN
James Dellisanti, Vice President, Marketing, Spherex, Inc.––San Jose, CA
Diana Dorobek, Senior Director, Oracle––Redwood Shores, CA
Matthew Douglass, Co-Founder, Practice Fusion––San Francisco, CA
Samantha Ettus, CEO & Founder, Park Place Payments––Los Angeles, CA
Christie George, President, New Media Ventures––Oakland, CA
Tasha Gideon, CEO, Verrah––New York, NY
Abhey Lamba, Vice President, Investor Relations, Autodesk––Danville, CA
Bel Leong-Hong, President & CEO, Knowledge Advantage, Inc.––Evanston, IL
Kristen Kuhns, Director of Product, PasswordWrench––San Francisco, CA
Raina Kumra, CEO, Juggernaut––Santa Monica, CA
Teddy Liaw, CEO, NexRep––San Francisco, CA
Kristina Libby, Executive Vice President of Future Science & Research, Hypergiant––New York, NY
Alex Lofton, Co-founder, Landed––San Francisco, CA
Ross Mayfield, CEO, Pingpad––Palo Alto, CA
Sacha Meinrath, Director, X-Lab––Washington, D.C.
Chris Misner, Tech Investor — San Mateo, CA
Shekar Narasimhan, Managing Partner, Beekman Advisors, Inc.––McLean, VA
Lisa Nash, Board Chair, Atma Connect––San Mateo, CA
Mutale Nkonde, Executive Director, AI for the People; Harvard Law School––Cambridge, MA
Amanda North, Founder, Plan C Advisors––San Francisco, CA
Emily Peters, CEO Uncommon Bold––San Francisco, CA
Sara Olsen, Founder & CEO, SVT Group––Milpitas, CA
Felix Ortiz, CEO, Viridis––Brooklyn, NY
Jeffery Owens, Director of Marketing, The Salvation Army––Los Angeles, CA
Elisa Camahort Page, CEO, Cygnus, a Do Big Things Company––Los Angeles, CA
Carmen Palafox, Partner, Make in LA Capital––Los Angeles, CA
Nayan Patel, Founder & CEO, H2––San Jose, CA
Sunil Paul, Investor & Innovator, Spring Ventures; Sidecar––San Francisco, CA
Andrew Rasiej, Co-Founder & CEO, Civic Hall––New York, NY
Michael Ross, Investor––Menlo Park, CA
Alec Ross, Author, The Industries of the Future––Baltimore, MD
Carolina Rossini, Founder, iNova Partners––Chevy Chase, MD
Laura Rowley, President, Rough Media Digital Media––New York, NY
Christian Sandvig, Director, Center for Ethics, Society and Computing, University of Michigan––Ann Arbor, MI
Robert Shapiro, Chairman, Sonecon LLC––Washington, D.C.
Linda Segervall, Brand Consultant, Icon Branding––Ann Arbor, MI
Faysal Sohail, Chairman, Altair Capital––Hillsbrough, CA
Jeff Stanger, Partner & Vice President of Product Strategy, Alley––San Carlos, CA
Richard Steel, CEO, Parsec Ventures — San Francisco, CA
Lisa Stone, Founding CEO, BlogHer––Palo Alto, CA
Dilawar Syed, President & CEO, Lumiata––Redwood City, CA [Organizer]
Steve Westly, Managing Partner, The Westly Group––Menlo Park, CA
Binh Tran, General Partner, 500 Startups Vietnam––San Francisco, CA
Brooke Wurst, CEO & Founder, Remote Harbor––Boston, MA
