By Frank Kamuntu
In a bid to counter fake news ahead of the US Elections 2020, Facebook and Instagram took down 120,000 posts from their platform and rejected over 2.2 million advertisements, informed Facebook’s vice president Nick Clegg.
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The Facebook VP announced that the company was working towards strengthening the security of its platforms ahead of the US, Uganda and other countries’ elections and that any attempts to “obstruct voting” or spread “disinformation” would be dealt with strongly.
The posts and advertisements in question were attempting to obstruct voting, he revealed. “Thirty-five thousand employees take care of the security of our platforms and contribute for elections,” said Clegg.
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Apart from this, Facebook also posted warnings on 150 million pieces of false information posted online, establishing partnerships with 70 specialised media platforms including agencies across the world to tackle misinformation.
“We have established partnerships with 70 specialised media, on the verification of information”, he revealed. The company is also using artificial intelligence to look out for possible problematic posts including those spreading fake information, taking action on them even before users report them.
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Twitter introduces policy changes
As the US Elections inch closer, all major social media platforms are on a crackdown to prevent the spread of misinformation and propaganda. Earlier this month, micro-blogging site Twitter introduced major changes under its Civic Integrity Policy to make Elections free, fair, and safe, and prevent the spread of misinformation that could harm the process.
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“We do not allow anyone to use Twitter to manipulate or interfere in elections or other civic processes, and recently expanded our civic integrity policy to address how we’ll handle misleading information surrounding these events,” said Twitter in an article penned by Legal, Policy and Trust & Safety Lead Vijaya Gadde and Product Lead, Twitter and Co-Founder, Periscope Kayvon Beykpour.
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“Under this policy, we will label Tweets that falsely claim a win for any candidate and will remove Tweets that encourage violence or call for people to interfere with election results or the smooth operation of polling places,” said the social-networking site in the statement.
