Facebook has always been subject to scrutiny. Be it for indirectly advocating hate speech or providing a platform for online bullying. The social media played a major role in 2016 US Elections, too, or at least this is what the majority believes. At that time, the company was accused of supporting any one particular idea. US President and most watchdogs now believe that the same is being done by Facebook before the Russian elections are conducted. In response, company CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that his company would provide all the possible information to prove their innocence in this matter.
On Monday, October 2, the social media giant revealed roughly 3,000 ads linked to the Russian elections to Congress. The company also published a Blog Post that addressed this matter.
Facebook's take
As reported by tech Radar, Facebook – in the blog post – suggested the steps it plans on taking to ensure transparency and authenticity on its platform. In a similar effort, Facebook will hire over 1,000 people, who will solely be dedicated to reviewing ads. Furthermore, the firm will invest greater resources into better machine learning software that identify ads that violate its policies.
Company might remove ads
Facebook’s General Counsel, Colin Stretch, had announced last week that the company would release 3,000 Russia-linked political ads.
During the revelation, Facebook discovered roughly 470 fake pages and accounts. According to a report by The Washington Post, the social media giant was able to come to the conclusion that most of these accounts were connected to a “troll farm” located outside Russia. Zuckerberg also released a video, wherein he can be seen talking about the steps that Facebook will take to “protect” the “integrity” of elections.
As noted by The New York Times, these fake accounts are usually created to spread misinformation. This would essentially put active users open for divisive messages. Fake accounts are also utilized to start trends or promote a particular idea. They do not receive any special scrutiny from Facebook’s side as they are believed to be normal user accounts.
These fake ads or accounts merely have to be in line with Facebook’s rules and policies. If they manage to pass through this, there is no employee oversight that is dedicated after that. Sometimes, such mediums are deliberately used to target specific audiences and promote particular ideas.
