Democrats urge Facebook to take strict measures, stop misinformation ahead of US Elections

Amid growing scrutiny of Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook, two influential Democrats on Capitol Hill have called on the social network to take more stringent measures against misinformation, suppression of voting rights and incitement to violence ahead of the US elections. As per reports, U.S. Representatives Pramila Jayapal and David Cicilline sent a letter to Facebook and accused the California-based company of being unsuccessful in enforcing its own rules and regulations around the false information allowed on the platform regarding the November presidential elections. 

In the same letter, the two Democrats even accused the company of not doing enough to check on the right-wing militias and other white supremacist groups from using Facebook for organising potentially violent events. US Congress has comparatively has only slightly increased the oversight of social media companies but the letter by the Democrats amounts to public mention of the issue.

“With the election less than 50 days away, the lack of concerted action by Facebook to address this threat to our democracy is a grave concern,” the two lawmakers wrote. “We are at the precipice of a democratic crisis, and Facebook must take all immediate steps within Facebook’s power to avert this crisis.”

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Facebook accepted hate speech audit

Meanwhile, in what is being hailed as “major progress” by the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have agreed to the commitments of the “first global brand safety” and sustainability framework for their advertising policies. On Wednesday, September 23, WFA announced that the social media giants have reached an agreement with the group over a common set of definitions for hate speech as well as other harmful content. 

Followed by negotiations that lasted for 15 months, WFA said in a statement that the initial changes in the deal will be announced later this month. The agreement requires the social media platforms to be a part of an independent audit on how they are not only categorising but also reporting and removing contents that are deemed harmful. The milestone was achieved through the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) which is a cross-industry initiative founded and led by WFA along with the support of other trade bodies. 

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Inputs/Image: AP