Noting that next week will definitely be a "test" for Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg said the company would continue "to fight to protect the integrity of the democratic process."
New Delhi: 
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the steps taken by the social media giant helped protect the integrity of more than 200 different elections around the world, including in India, and also played a critical role in stopping violations ahead of the US election.
Noting that next week would definitely be a "test" for Facebook, Zuckerberg said the company would continue "to fight to protect the integrity of the democratic process."
“These are all the changes that we have made in the past four years - and they have helped us protect the integrity of more than 200 different elections around the world, including in the European Union, India and Indonesia.
It was important to stop abuse before next week’s vote in the US,” Zuckerberg said. During the company's earnings call he explained some steps that were taken.
He added that the company focused on issues such as voter suppression, and worked closely with experts in the field, including civil rights leaders.
Facebook's security teams were looking for traditional threats like hacking four years ago,
but what they ended up with was something new - coordinated intervention campaigns, using fake accounts, that tried to spread disinformation and disagreements, he said.
“Since then, we have built the most advanced systems in the world to find and remove these threats, and they are showing by the numbers.
In the years that have followed, we have removed more than 100 networks, including networks from Russia, Iran, and China and we are blocking millions of potentially accounts. It's offensive every day, "Zuckerberg said.
Mr. Zuckerberg explained that the company has taken steps to make the ads transparent and that anyone wanting to run an ad related to a political or social issue must go through the licensing process first.
Between March and September, the company rejected ads 2.2 million times before it could run for trying to target the United States without permission.
For ads on political and social issues, Facebook allows users to know who paid for the ad and what audience the ad has reached, to make the political ad on the platform more transparent.
"Our policies prohibit misinformation in when and how to vote and content intended to intimidate people not to show up at polls, such as the claim that ICE will be there.
We have recently expanded these policies to include implicit misrepresentations, such as claims that you will personally catch COVID-19."
He added that from March to mid-October, Facebook had removed more than 1,35,000 pieces of content in the US in violation of these rules.
Facebook saw its total revenue grow 22 percent to $ 21.4 billion in the September quarter, while its net income was $ 7.8 billion.
The daily active user base (DAUs) was 1.82 billion on average, while the monthly active user base (MAUs) was 2.74 billion as of September 30, 2020.
Mr. Zuckerberg also spoke about the interoperability between Facebook's suite of applications (WhatsApp and Instagram) that allows users to send messages between applications.
“We started rolling out interoperability between Messenger and Instagram Messaging, and this is present in a lot of countries around the world now,
including in the United States ... The big benefit - the way I think about this is that in a lot of countries around the world There is a basic messaging app that most people use. "
He added that the correspondence experience in the United States is very fragmented compared to what one might encounter in India, China, Brazil or countries in Europe.
Facebook has more than 300 million users in India, while its WhatsApp group has more than 400 million users in the country.
Earlier this year, Facebook signed a deal to buy a 9.99 percent stake in Jio platforms led by Mukesh Ambani for Rs 43,574 crore. Businesses are also taking advantage of WhatsApp to deliver goods from neighboring Kirana stores via JioMart.
0 Comments