Now You Can Launch And Sign Petitions On Facebook

Dhir Acharya - Jan 21, 2019

The feature is undergoing tests which will help make advocation easier. Users can support a petition or create their own if necessary.

Facebook is adding more and more features to its platform, and now it even lets you create and sign petitions right from your news feed.

On Monday, the social network launches “Community Actions” in the US. First reported by TechCrunch, the feature has been under tests in selected markets during the past few weeks. Facebook now is developing based on that existing pilot version.

Users have already made use of this new feature. For example, a petition was created to stop drilling in Colorado, and another one was uploaded to call on pedestrian safety improvement near a Philadelphia-based library.

When users see petitions on their feeds, they can tap on “support” and even share a personal testimony or video related to the matter if they want. Petition creators can tag government agencies and elected officials who will receive notifications and can give responses. Anyone can launch a petition, including agencies and officials themselves.

According to a spokesperson from Facebook, this new feature is part of the company’s larger effort towards informed and civically engaged communities. The spokesperson added that Community Action offers an additional way so that people can advocate for changes in their own communities and partner with governments agencies and elected officials.

Before the introduction of Community Action, activists were instead able to post their petitions on Facebook via a third-party platform like Causes.com or Change.org. By launching Community Action, Facebook will help make the process simpler as well as better control the purposes of petitions and actively take them down in case of community standards violation.

In the past, the social network has received tons of criticism for allowing inauthentic contents on its platform whose purpose is to stir up emotions over divisive matters. It looks like Facebook is overcoming those criticisms to continue offering more to its users, or is it just another attempt to calm down the public? We’ll have to wait and see.