PARIS, Oct 19, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – A total of 120,000 posts on Facebook and
Instagram have been withdrawn for attempting to “obstruct voting” in the US
presidential election and 2.2 million ads have been rejected, Facebook’s vice
president Nick Clegg said in an interview published Sunday.
In addition, warnings were posted on 150 million examples of false
information posted online, the former British deputy prime minister told the
French weekly Journal du Dimanche.
Facebook has been increasing its efforts to avoid a repeat of events
leading up to the 2016 US election, won by Donald Trump, when its network was
used for attempts at voter manipulation, carried out from Russia.
There were similar problems ahead of Britain’s 2016 referendum on leaving
the European Union.
“Thirty-five thousand employees take care of the security of our platforms
and contribute for elections,” said Clegg, who is vice president of global
affairs and communications at Facebook.
“We have established partnerships with 70 specialised media, including
five in France, on the verification of information,” he was quoted as saying
in the newspaper.
AFP is one of those partners.
Clegg added that the company also uses artificial intelligence which has
“made it possible to delete billions of posts and fake accounts, even before
they are reported by users”.
Facebook also stores all advertisements and information on their funding
and provenance for seven years “to ensure transparency,” he said.
In 2016, while he was still deputy prime minister, Clegg complained to the
Journal du Dimanche that Facebook had not identified or suppressed a single
foreign network interfering in the US election.
On Wednesday, Trump rebuked Facebook and Twitter for blocking links to a
New York Post article purporting to expose corrupt dealings by election rival
Joe Biden and his son Hunter in Ukraine.
A day earlier Facebook announced a ban on ads that discourage people from
getting vaccinated, in light of the coronavirus pandemic which the social
media giant said has “highlighted the importance of preventive health
behaviours.”