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Facebook is taking steps to reduce the spread of false information on its platforms ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, company officials said on Monday, 25 March.
Facebook listed a variety of measures it is taking – from blocking fake accounts to employing third-party fact-checking organisations, through the campaign and voting, with polling scheduled to take place in seven phases from 11 April to 19 May.
Calling the Indian elections a "top priority," Samidh Chakrabarti, director of Facebook's Product Management for Civic Integrity division, said the company has put in a "tremendous amount of efforts over the last two years" to prepare for the polls.
He said Facebook has partnered with Indian media organisations to check and flag false stories in English, Hindi and some other regional Indian languages.
The social media giant came under immense scrutiny after it failed to prevent the spread of false information during the 2016 US elections, when allegations of outside interference resulted in Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg testifying in the US Senate.
Facebook-owned messaging applications such as WhatsApp have been repeatedly scrutinised by the Indian government and security agencies, and asked to prevent the spread of false information and rumours that have been linked to mob killings.
In 2018, at least 20 people were killed in India, mostly in rural villages, in attacks by mobs that were influenced by posts on social media.
Although the move was India-specific, it was applied globally in January this year.
But social media platforms have also become critical tools for Indian political campaigns. Ahead of elections in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) used social media extensively for political advertisements and to interact with young voters.
Social media companies have presented a "Voluntary Code of Ethics for the General Elections 2019" to the election monitoring body, a new requirement this year.
"We are working hard to prevent bad actors from interfering with elections on Facebook," Chakrabarti said, adding that Facebook has tripled the number of people working on safety and security to 30,000.
The elections will be held in seven phases to ensure proper security and manageable logistics across the country of 1.3 billion people. Counting of votes is to be conducted on 23 May, with results expected the same day.
(Published in an arrangement with The Associated Press.)
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