Facebook to protect integrity of 2019 midterm elections

MANILA, Philippines — Social media company Facebook yesterday said it will ramp up its efforts to protect the integrity of the upcoming midterm elections in the Philippines.

Katie Harbath, Facebook’s director for global politics and government outreach, said they are working closely with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and other organizations to help detect and prevent bad actors from abusing the platform.

“The goal of Facebook in elections is to make it harder to interfere with elections on the platform, and easier for people to make their voices heard in the political process,” she said at a press briefing.

“We are committed to tackling all kinds of inauthentic behavior and abuse on our platform, which we know often intensify during elections – from misinformation, misrepresentation and foreign interference, to phishing, harassment and violent threats – and we have dedicated teams working on every upcoming election around the world,” she added.

Harbath said they would partner with Comelec to conduct training on online safety for field officers, as well as look at ways to best use the platform to share election updates and encourage voter turnout.

In a statement, Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said they recognize how Facebook levels the playing field both for the candidates and voters, whom he said “can access more information about leaders and, if needed, make leaders more accountable to their constituents.”

“We are working closely with Facebook to deter threats to election integrity and ensure we mitigate risks to safety during the midterm elections,” he added.

Fake news

Harbath said Facebook has also invested heavily on addressing issues, including proliferation of false news that may impact the integrity of the elections.

“We’ve been investing more heavily in people and technology to better protect our community from false news. This includes investing in artificial intelligence to help us aggressively go after fake accounts, which we know can be a significant distributor of false news,” she said.

“We’ve also expanded our work with third party fact-checkers, implemented new policies that allow us to take down misinformation that could contribute to offline harm and we’ve deepened our support for the Philippines’ digital literacy efforts. There is always more to do, and we are committed to playing our part,” the Facebook official said.

The company also cited efforts to address abuse, including its recent decision to ban digital marketing agency Twinmark Media Enterprises for repeated violations of its policies, including sharing spam content and the use of fake accounts.

Facebook also took down a spam network in the country last year after it discovered that the pages encouraged people to visit low quality websites full of disruptive ads.

“There is much left to do and they need to constantly improve to stay one step ahead of their sophisticated adversaries,” said the company.

“Facebook is committed to continuing to invest heavily in safety and security to ensure that people can continue to trust the connections they make on the platform and that Facebook can fulfill its potential of being a positive player in the democratic process, both in the Philippines and around the world,” it added.