WASHINGTON – Facebook has enhanced its security measures to protect theintegrity of the July 25 general elections in Pakistan and prevent thespread of fake news, a spokesperson for the social media giant, which hasbeen plagued by a massive data leak scandal, said.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg had to face grilling in the US and in theEuropean parliament over the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which Facebookwas accused of unduly influencing the 2016 US electoral process.
Sarim Aziz, Facebook’s spokesperson in Pakistan, said that for the comingelections in Pakistan the company had increased its safety and securitystaff to monitor all activities connected with the elections and to protectthe integrity of the elections.ADVERTISEMENT
“We have increased the number of safety and security people on our staffworking on this area, with dedicated teams focused on preventing abuse onthe platform during elections and started training of the ElectionCommission of Pakistan’s officials with the goal of increasing transparencyand helping authorities promote civic engagement,” Aziz said.
He said enhanced security measures had been taken to protect pages ofpolitical parties and candidates, improving the enforcement of its adspolicies and greater ads and page transparency, better use of machinelearning to combat fake accounts, and working to reduce the spread of falsenews.
Facebook is widely used in Pakistan and the political parties, politiciansand their supporters commonly use the social networking platform to expresstheir point of view. Aziz said Facebook’s safety and security staff hadbeen working with the Election Commission of Pakistan to better understandand address the specific challenges faced in the country and help ensurethat candidates are safe on the platform.ADVERTISEMENT
Facebook CEO Zuckerberg had promised in last April to ensure security andtransparency on its forum ahead of elections in different countries,including Pakistan.