Mozilla: The internet is fcked, but together we can unfck it

Ahead of the 2020 United States presidential election, Mozilla is calling Twitter and Facebook to "unfck the internet".

The Firefox-maker is seeking "an honest internet for the US elections". It's something of an ad campaign for its own web browser, but it touches on legitimate worries many people have about the use and abuse of social media. Specifically, there are concerns about how social media platforms are used to spread misinformation.

Mozilla says the "Unfck the internet" initiative is part of a broader movement for a healthy internet. It points to the potential for the spread of misinformation online -- particularly on social media -- through attention-grabbing headlines. The organization suggests using Pocket to ensure that the news you read comes from trusted sources.

There are demands made of Twitter and Facebook. Mozilla says that trending topics can be extremely misleading:

Just because a topic is trending on Twitter does not make it true -- and misinfo spreaders and conspiracy theorists capitalize on this feature. As we draw closer to the US election in November, join Mozilla in demanding that Twitter turn off trending topics.

The organization is encouraging people to sign petitions and contact social media giants to get them to change the way they work. It says:

Get extremist group recommendations off FB

Facebook Groups have become breeding grounds for misleading campaigns and extremist organizations. Tell Facebook to pause Group recommendations until the election results are certified.

You can find out more and sign the various petitions over on Mozilla's Unfck the Internet page. The page has other recommendations for internet users about how they can be better informed online and how they can control how social networks use personal data.