In India, Facebook is woking to remove hundreds of ads and accounts that may be spreading misinformation,
content, and spam ahead of the elections that begin on April 11.
content, and spam ahead of the elections that begin on April 11.
India is one of the largest markets for Facebook, meaning that viral fake news is also taking the lead.Facebook announced that 103 and counting pages have been removed, saying that
“The accounts were engaging in “coordinated inauthentic behavior” that used fake accounts to run pages related
to topics such as the Pakistani military, the Indian government, and the troubled region of Kashmir, wrote Nathaniel
Gleicher, Facebook’s head of cybersecurity.”
to topics such as the Pakistani military, the Indian government, and the troubled region of Kashmir, wrote Nathaniel
Gleicher, Facebook’s head of cybersecurity.”
Many people are claiming that the people behind the screen are just hardcore supporters of their political parties with no real official affiliation. However, AP News reported that
“Noam Rotem and Yuval Adam, two researchers operating the Big Bots Project, said in a report that they uncovered hundreds of fake accounts spreading messages in support of Netanyahu’s Likud party and smearing his opponents. Likud denied the allegations.”
The reason for removing these accounts has a lot to do with Facebook violations. Meaning that they are not targeting a specific group of people or political party. Many want to believe that the people behind the screen are controlling hundreds of accounts or “bots” however Netanyah’s opinion on the situation is different. In short he expressed that these people have a face, name, and family.
Stating that “the worst thing: they have opinions of their own. Independent people,” Netanyahu said. “Not one of them is fake.”
Is this something that America should jump on to, especially since election season is upon us? Or is “Freedom of speech” too important?
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