View this email in your browser ([link removed])
Dear Friend,

Last Wednesday our nation reeled in horror as a riotous mob attacked the Capitol with the goal of disrupting the democratic transfer of power. This insurrection was a crisis fueled by voter fraud conspiracies spread by President Trump and Republican leaders, disseminated by right-wing mainstream media, and magnified in the echo chambers of unregulated social media platforms.

As the crisis unfolded, Americans were forced to turn to social media CEOs to stop the spread of lies and vitriol. We have ceded the rules of online deception, harassment, and incitement of violence to powerful tech companies who are not accountable to the public.

This must end, which is why MapLight is calling on the Biden-Harris administration to address disinformation on Day 1. ([link removed])

Removing President Trump, the super-spreader in Chief, from the social media platforms is the right move -- and from a legal standpoint, no one doubts that platforms have the right to do so. At the same time, the platforms’ decision risks emboldening conspiracy theorists, providing a smoking gun to those who sow division, and further polarizing our information ecosystem when 31 percent of Americans believe that Congress should not have certified Joe Biden’s victory in the Electoral College.
This crisis was entirely preventable. It is past time for us to stop allowing profit-driven companies to set the rules of democratic engagement online and put our democratic institutions back in control. Disinformation will only continue to escalate if we do not take immediate action to reform the information dystopia that nurtures online lies into real life violence.
Sign our petition to urge the Biden-Harris administration to treat disinformation as a threat to our democracy. ([link removed])
There is too much at stake-

Dan

Daniel G. Newman
Maplight President and Co-Founder

============================================================
Copyright © 2021 MapLight, All rights reserved.
You signed up to receive civic information updates on either MapLight.org or VotersEdge.org.

Our mailing address is:
MapLight
2223 Shattuck Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94704
USA
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp
[link removed]