Facebook has made fresh plans to protect elections from interference and misinformation in case UK goes to the polls. The social network said it will set up a dedicated operations centre if a general election is called to serve as an added layer of defence, monitoring and quickly removing activity that breaks its rules.
From next week, advertisements relating to social issues such as immigration, health and the environment will have to go through the same verification process as political adverts. At present Facebook requires political advertisers to share who they are and where they live. Posts reported by Facebook‘s UK fact-checking partner Full Fact found to contain misinformation will also feature more prominent labelling.
Damian Collins, chairman of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, when asked whether Facebook has any plans to formalise a long-term working relationship with third-party fact-checkers given the “onus” put on them in tackling so-called “fake news”. Facebook‘s vice president of policy solutions Richard Allan said new rules for the era of digital campaigning need to be decided by Parliament and regulators. “While we are taking a number of steps, there are many areas where it’s simply not appropriate for a private company like Facebook to be setting the rules of the game or calling the shots,” he explained.
