War Room: Nestled between Building 20 and Building 21 in the heart of the Facebook campus, a conference room is under construction.
Cables hang from the ceiling, ready to be attached to 16 desks of computer monitors. On the wall, there are several televisions ready to tune in to CNN, MSNBC, Fox News and other major networks. A small sign taped to the glass door describes what is being built: “War Room.”
Starting next week, the space will be Facebook’s election security headquarters. More than 300 people across the company are working on the election, but the War Room will house a team of about 20 people focused on eliminating misinformation, tracking fake news, and removing fake accounts that might try to influence voters ahead of elections in the United States, Brazil, and other countries.
Photo nytimes.com
“It’s probably the biggest reorientation of the company since our transition from desktop to mobile,” said Samidh Chakrabarti, who leads Facebook’s elections division and core political engagement team.
Facebook's misuse of the past election didn't leave much room for error. In July and August, the company analyzed attempts by Iranians and Russians to mislead users of the social network. Now, with the upcoming US election (in about seven weeks), Facebook is trying to convince people that everything will be fine, because it is ready to handle any new attempts at election interference.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has vowed to fix any problems and said the company will be “better prepared” to handle any potential interference. The company has reportedly taken steps to thwart spammers, hackers and foreign agents. Among those measures is hiring thousands of people to monitor all content, essentially recording all political ads.
