Facebook fights (some) information
Facebook has publicly acknowledged that its platform has been exploited by governments seeking to manipulate public opinion in other countries - including during the presidential elections in the US and France - and pledged to clamp down on such "information operations".
Facebook urged to step up fake news fight before UK election
In a white paper authored by the company's security team and published on Thursday, the company detailed well-funded and subtle techniques used by nations and other organizations to spread misleading information and falsehoods for geopolitical goals. These efforts go well beyond "fake news", the company said, and include content seeding, targeted data collection and fake accounts that are used to amplify one particular view, sow distrust in political institutions and spread confusion.
"We have had to expand our security focus from traditional abusive behavior, such as account hacking, malware, spam and financial scams, to include more subtle and insidious forms of misuse, including attempts to manipulate civic discourse and deceive people," said the company.
In its effort to clamp down on information operations, Facebook suspended 30,000 accounts in France before the presidential election. The company said it was a priority to remove suspect accounts with high volumes of posting activity and the biggest audiences.
Facebook pledged to monitor attempts to manipulate the platform, to develop new ways of identifying fake accounts, educate at-risk people about how to keep their information safe, and support civil society programs around media literacy.
"We recognize that, in today's information environment, social media plays a sizable role in facilitating communications - not only in times of civic events, such as elections, but in everyday expression," said the report. "In some circumstances, however, we recognize that the risk of malicious actors seeking to use Facebook to mislead people or otherwise promote inauthentic communications can be higher."