NAHJ Criticizes Mark Zuckerberg’s Opposition to WhatsApp Including Resource for Spanish Speakers Prior to 2020 Election

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

October 27, 2021

NAHJ Criticizes Mark Zuckerberg’s Opposition to WhatsApp Including Resource for Spanish Speakers Prior to 2020 Election

Washington, D.C. – The National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) condemns Mark Zuckerberg’s opposition in 2020 to a Spanish-language voting information resource on the popular messaging app, WhatsApp, as reported in the Washington Post. Employees from the Facebook-owned company had suggested creating the resource to offer accurate voting information to Spanish-speaking Americans, such as a chat bot or link, and providing it directly to users. But Zuckerberg allegedly objected to the proposal because he thought it would look “partisan.” A spokesperson from WhatsApp, Christina LoNigro, claims that this suggestion was never made.

Providing this information in Spanish would have helped increase the accessibility of accurate voting information to Spanish-speaking Americans, especially since so many of them use WhatsApp. Instead of creating this resource in Spanish, Facebook encouraged users to flag misinformation or request accurate information from a chat bot. 

There are 10 million more Latinos on WhatsApp than on Instagram, and three-times more than on Twitter. According to an analysis by Insider Intelligence, an estimated 32 million Latinos in the United States use WhatsApp, and more than 50% of those use the messenger service at least monthly. 

“The responsibility of curbing the spread of misinformation should not fall upon individuals or non-profit organizations but on the platform itself,” said Jennifer A. Marcial Ocasio, NAHJ’s National Spanish At-Large Officer. “WhatsApp, and Zuckerberg by extension, must recognize their place as a major messaging platform and be held accountable for creating a safe and factual space. 

“Spanish-speaking Americans, who have the right to vote, are already facing struggles navigating an electoral process that is sometimes foreign to them. It is their right to vote and do so with factual information. Denying access to information in Spanish, when the resources are available, just contributes to propagating misinformation and perpetuates disparities in already overlooked communities,” Marcial Ocasio added. 

As an organization that promotes the inclusion of Latinos, in both newsrooms and other forms of media and representation, NAHJ calls on Zuckerburg to increase the accessibility of his platforms for Spanish-language dominant communities. Creating resources that provide Spanish speakers access to accurate voting information in their native language is not a partisan issue; voter suppression is.  

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