Dear MoveOn member,
Facebook just announced that they have delayed the decision about whether to lift their ban on Donald Trump.1 This is an opening, Andra, but we need to act fast.
Facebook's "Oversight Board" is poised to make the decision "in the coming weeks," and media watchers expect it to give in to Trump, who has 35 million followers on Facebook and 24 million on Instagram.2,3 Trump's posts were regularly among the most read, shared, and commented-on posts on the platforms, where he incited violence, spewed racist hate, and raised many millions of dollars to line his pockets and pad his political war chest.
YouTube has already announced that it will let Trump back on its platform.4
We know how to combat Trump's lies as the social media giants cave to him. During last year's presidential election, MoveOn hired a team of researchers and digital sleuths who tracked, exposed, and helped shut down white supremacist and far-right disinformation networks. And MoveOn has joined with other organizations to demand that the government break up the big tech companies to reduce their destructive influence on our democracy and discourse. Now, we need to prepare to fight back on all of these fronts as soon as Trump re-emerges on social media.
But there's one big problem: Donations to MoveOn have dropped significantly since last year, and unless our members step up, we won't have the resources to take on Trump's conspiracy theories and lies at the scale it will surely require.
We need your help so we can be ready. Will you chip in $8 a month to help us fight back against Trump for as long as it takes?
No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.
We all saw on January 6 how dangerous Trump's conspiracy theories can be, and Republicans—including Kevin McCarthy, the top-ranking Republican in the House—continue to push the Big Lie that the election was stolen to justify the most sweeping attack on voting rights since Jim Crow.5,6
After the insurrection, Trump was banned from social media, which took away his megaphone for spreading hate and disinformation. The last thing we need now is Trump back on the internet, especially as we fight tooth and nail to reach herd immunity and end the COVID-19 nightmare.
Meanwhile, after four years of resistance, donations to MoveOn and other progressive groups have fallen off significantly. We get it. We all want a break after Trump, and MoveOn members fought, organized, and donated tirelessly through the Trump years. Unfortunately, now is the time when Biden and the Democrats need us pushing them the most—and when the newly emboldened right wing is stepping up its attacks.
It's a recipe for disaster. Donald Trump comes back to social media, and progressives don't have the resources to fight back.
We know how to limit the damage of Trump's disinformation. We have to track it, call it out, and demand that the big social media networks shut it down. But it isn't cheap or easy. Disinformation spreads like wildfire on social media, and it will take an incredible amount of pressure to get Facebook, YouTube, and other social media companies to take action.
That's why we're asking you become a monthly donor now, so that we're ready the minute Trump's social media ban is lifted and can keep up the fight for as long as it takes. Will you chip in $8 a month?
No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.
Thanks for all you do.
–Justin, Mark, Mana, Ankur, and the rest of the team
Sources:
1. "Facebook panel's Trump ruling delayed as comments flood in," Associated Press, April 16, 2021
https://act.moveon.org/go/153172?t=6&akid=296034%2E53570607%2EwmOIrq
2. Ibid.
3. "Facebook's New Board Has Incentives to Bring Back Donald Trump," Bloomberg, March 23, 2021
https://act.moveon.org/go/150687?t=8&akid=296034%2E53570607%2EwmOIrq
4. "YouTube will lift Trump suspension when 'risk of violence has decreased,' CEO says," CNET, March 4, 2021
https://act.moveon.org/go/150682?t=10&akid=296034%2E53570607%2EwmOIrq
5. "Kevin McCarthy's bizarre attempt to rewrite the narrative of Jan. 6," The Washington Post, April 26, 2021
https://act.moveon.org/go/153173?t=12&akid=296034%2E53570607%2EwmOIrq
6. "Georgia's Voter Law Is Called 'Jim Crow 2.0' for a Reason," The New York Times, March 31, 2021
https://act.moveon.org/go/153174?t=14&akid=296034%2E53570607%2EwmOIrq
Want to support our work? Right-wing groups are spending tens of millions of dollars on TV ads to smear the For the People Act, a critical progressive bill that would help enable every American to vote and get Big Money out of politics. Meanwhile, donations to progressive groups like MoveOn are plummeting now that a Democrat is in the White House, meaning we don't have the resources to fight back. That's a huge problem, and that's why we urgently need your support.
Will you chip in to fight right-wing lies and pass urgent legislation to confront the multiple crises our country faces?
No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.
Contributions to MoveOn Civic Action are not tax-deductible for income tax purposes. This email was sent to Andra Patterson on April 27, 2021. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. MoveOn's privacy policy was recently updated. To read our new privacy policy, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.
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