ATLANTA (NEWSnet/AP) — Several Democratic secretaries of state sent a letter to Meta, parent company of Facebook, asking it to stop allowing ads that claim the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

In the letter addressed to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, secretaries in Colorado, Maine, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington said allowing such ads will erode trust in elections and fuel threats of political violence against election workers. Also signing was Wisconsin Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski, who does not oversee elections.

“Meta is allowing extremists and election-deniers to further undermine our elections,” the secretaries wrote. “We are strongly opposed to Meta’s decision to allow ads promoting election denialism and urge you to repeal this policy before it inflicts more damage.”

A company spokesperson provided details about how the company views elections, referencing its 2022 plan in which the company said it will “continually review content to determine if it violates our community standards, including ... policies on election and voter interference, hate speech, coordinating harm and publicizing crime, and bullying and harassment.”

But ads related to the 2020 election are the primary focus of the SOS letter. It references recent campaign ads claiming the 2020 election was rigged.

“When people believe an election was stolen, they are less likely to have confidence in the system, and that depresses turnout," Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said Friday. 

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