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More than 3 million Americans have registered to vote on social media this year

21 September 2020
Dan Ackermann

An estimated 2.5 million+ Americans have registered to vote on Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger, Facebook announced Monday. More than 733,000 Americans have registered to vote so far via Snapchat.

Why it matters: The broad reach of social media platforms makes them uniquely effective at engaging voters — especially younger voters who may not know how to register to vote or be civically engaged.

Details: Facebook says it determined that over 2.5 million people have registered to vote across its apps, based on conversion rates it calculated from a few states that it has already partnered with.

  • The number so far beats its record of over 2 million people registered for elections in 2016 and again in 2018.
  • The company's CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in July that Facebook's 2020 goal is "to help 4 million people register to vote."
  • Facebook also said Monday that it has launched a consumer marketing campaign to inform more users about how to register and participate in the elections.
  • COO Sheryl Sandberg and members of the company's executive team will use Live on Facebook events this week to promote the registration effort.

The big picture: Tech companies were caught flat-footed by the way their platforms were used by foreign actors in the 2016 election. After four years of backlash, they want to show their commitment to civic engagement and election integrity.

What's next: National Voter Registration Day is on Tuesday.

Go deeper:

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.