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'Ya Basta Facebook' Campaign Presses Company To Curb Spanish-Language Misinformation

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A new campaign is putting pressure on Facebook to combat Spanish-language misinformation.

The Real Facebook Oversight Board is a collaborative effort including advocacy groups like the National Hispanic Media Coalition and the Center for American Progress.

Its campaign “Ya Basta Facebook” – or “enough is enough, Facebook” – is demanding that the social media giant address its Spanish-language content moderation gap, which the groups describe as “a crisis that is pushing extreme disinformation and hate to Spanish-speaking communities in the United States.”

An analysisof COVID-19 misinformation on Facebook published in April 2020 by the human rights group Avaaz found that 70% of Spanish-language content deemed incorrect was not removed or labeled as such, compared to 30% of the same content in English.

The call to action has gained the support of Congressman Tony Cardenas, D-Calif. During a Real Facebook Oversight Board press briefing on Tuesday, Cardenas said the federal government can step in if Facebook doesn't improve its Spanish-language content moderation.

“There are two ways in which the federal government can enforce, and force, these organizations to do the right thing, and that is through laws and that is through regulations,” Cardenas said. “Unfortunately, believe it or not, some of my colleagues are not committed to making sure that we hold these platforms accountable. But I think we're going to have more success this time than we have in the past.”

On Thursday, March 25, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will testify before the Energy and Commerce Committee, of which Cardenas is a member.

Cardenas says it's a critical time to act with COVID-19 vaccines rolling out because the Latino community is especially vulnerable.

This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, the O'Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West in Montana, KUNC in Colorado, KUNM in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Copyright 2021 KUNR Public Radio. To see more, visit KUNR Public Radio.

Stephanie Serrano
Stephanie Serrano is a senior at the University of Nevada, Reno and a Latina born and raised in Reno, Nevada. She joins KUNR as our bilingual news intern for the spring of 2017. It's a special position supported by the Pack Internship Grant Program, KUNR, and Noticiero Movil, a bilingual multimedia news source that's part of the Reynolds School of Journalism.