Facebook said on Wednesday with elections ongoing across Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry, it is putting out information on the measures that it is implementing to support and protect these elections.
“Based on lessons we’ve learned from past elections in India and globally, we are taking steps to enhance civic engagement, combat hate speech, limit misinformation and remove voter suppression,” the social media giant said in a statement.
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Facebook said it also continues to closely partner with election authorities, including setting up a ‘high priority’ channel to remove content that breaks its rules or is against local law after receiving valid legal orders.
In a newsroom post, the company said to decrease the risk of problematic content going viral in these states and potentially inciting violence ahead of or during the elections, it will significantly reduce the distribution of content that its proactive detection technology identifies as likely hate speech or violence and incitement. This content will be removed if determined to violate the company’s policies, but its distribution will remain reduced until that determination is made.
Facebook may deploy technology to identify new words and phrases associated with hate speech, and either remove posts with that language or reduce their distribution. It will also temporarily reduce the distribution of content from accounts that have recently and repeatedly violated its policies.
Facebook said over the last year, it enhanced its coverage in fact checking in the primary languages of the states going to vote. In addition to English, the company’s eight partners in India fact-check in 11 Indian languages including Bengali, Tamil, Malayalam and Assamese.
“Our policies prohibit voter interference, defined as objectively verifiable statements such as misrepresentation of dates and methods for voting (e.g., text to vote). We also remove offers to buy or sell votes with cash or gifts..additionally we also remove explicit claims that you will contract Covid-19 if you vote,” the company said.
Facebook said it believes it has an important part to play in creating an informed community, and helping people access all the information they need to take part in the democratic process. “We also remind people to exercise their democratic right to vote. Thus, we have designed Election Day reminders to give voters accurate information and encourage voters to share this information with friends on Facebook and WhatsApp.”
