POLITICS AND Governance Outreach Manager for the Asia-Pacific at Facebook Roy Tan discussed how Facebook may affect politics and elections in “Facebook and Democracy,” on October 10, at the Leong Hall Auditorium.

The talk was part of Talakayang Alay sa Bayan (TALAB) 2018, a University-wide event offering classes, discussions, and workshops tackling different facets of the national situation.

Facebook and democracy

According to Tan, electoral integrity is “under attack” within the online sphere of Facebook. He said that the three aspects of election integrity with issues surrounding them were knowledge, safety, and turnout.

Regarding knowledge, Tan discussed how Facebook may be a means for misinformation, false amplification, and misrepresentation to spread. According to him, posts that include misleading or distorted information may be detrimental to the candidates.

In the context of safety, the possibility of users being bullied over political views also arises during times of election. Tan mentioned that this puts account security at risk, as well as the chances of harassment and violence.

He also discussed how the turnout of an election may be affected as well. He presented that discouraging people from voting by misleading them is a cause for disenfranchisement, which may affect the amount of voters a candidate receives.

Solutions being implemented

After presenting possible problems, Tan discussed how Facebook “cracks down” on fake accounts as one solution. This is because, according to Tan, most false news is posted by fake accounts.

He stated that their process included the automatic removal of fake accounts, identifying remaining accounts, and having 20,000 people work on safety and security to ensure the deletion of any fake accounts.

Tan also talked about how “clickbait articles” often link to websites with a low quality article, but with several advertisements on a single page. He presented how Facebook has been redacting fake news through the disruption of financial incentives.

“Clickbait, sensationalist headlines that try to call you in are usually put up by these fake accounts,” he said.

To disrupt these incentives, Facebook now sends notifications to users who share articles that are unverified. Tan presented that Facebook gathers this information through users who have previously reported the article.

Tan also noted that in the United States, a user must first get authorized before posting a political advertisement on Facebook, for the purpose of lessening fake articles, and disenfranchisement.

Taking responsibility

According to Tan, Facebook notifies U.S. users who are of voting age on election days, prompting them to vote. He noted that Facebook is equipped with tools for the voter to encourage them to take responsibility and participate in elections. However, he did not mention whether the site plans to expand this effort worldwide.

To amplify the use of voter tools, Tan stated that in the United States, over two million users registered to vote because of the notification they had received.

He concluded his talk by mentioning how Facebook has begun partnering with non-government organizations in order to promote community engagement.