Internet platforms defend efforts against fake news in India

In anticipation of 2019 elections, both Google and Facebook said they will focus on training journalists while Twitter emphasised eliminating fake accounts and automated manipulation as well as political ad transparency.

Twitter, facebook, google, Twitter fake news, facebook fake news, Google fake news, Fake news problem, Fake News on social media, hate mesage, spamming, online abuse, hate speeches, tech news, indian express

Facebook India Head of News Partnerships Manish Khanduri said his company will release new political advertising protocols in January or February.

Facebook, Google and Twitter representatives defended their ongoing efforts to fight “fake news” on their platforms, acknowledged persisting issues and committed to further initiatives for the upcoming national election at a BBC panel discussion in IIT Delhi, Monday.

However, the responses to the moderator’s questions did little to sway the audience of mainly students along with some journalists.

“In terms of what you’ve heard so far, who here is more optimistic about trying to get to grips with this problem in terms of what the tech companies are doing?” asked BBC moderator Matthew Amroliwala. No one in the audience rose their hands.

In anticipation of 2019 elections, both Google and Facebook said they will focus on training journalists while Twitter emphasised eliminating fake accounts and automated manipulation as well as political ad transparency. Facebook India Head of News Partnerships Manish Khanduri said his company will release new political advertising protocols in January or February.

“Does the scale of your response match the scale of the problem?” Amroliwala asked Khanduri. “It’s a work in progress. We have to increase the network of third-party fact checkers in India. I know that — that’s the job I’m responsible for … We have to scale up. But to say that there is a mismatch, I feel, is personally unfair,” Khanduri said. “We are sincere and genuine in our effort.”

All representatives said they had no “head of fake news” position at a board level. As for a head of department tackling “fake news,” Facebook said they have made a recent hire. Google said that a committee is looking at the issue from product and policy lens. Twitter too said that the topic is a number one priority. Khanduri also defended WhatsApp’s decision to base its India grievance officer in the US so that the employee could be near the teams that can help fix problems.

Story continues below this ad

All three representatives discussed their reliance on third-party partnerships in India because they believe their companies shouldn’t be the final arbitrator of truth. “It’s always a balance between giving people free speech and … also ensuring that its a safe platform for people to use,” said Google’s News Lab Asia-Pacific head Irene Jay Liu. Later, she added: “As a search engine, we are not more interested in clicks than the truth.”

Read | Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey admits fake news problem, but says no ‘one fix’ solution

Google found that YouTube users have gravitated more to news in recent years, particularly in India, said Liu. The official added that YouTube has tried to give users more context about videos, with extra weight to “authoritative” sources and fact-checked content for breaking news topics.

Story continues below this ad

Twitter’s Legal, Policy and Trust & Safety Lead Vijaya Gadde said her company’s lessons came from manipulative misinformation efforts in the 2016 US elections, leading to changes for the recent US mid-term elections. She said they are considering a “report fake news” option.

On taking down hateful content, she said: “The problem today is that the burden is on the people who are suffering from the harassment and it is our responsibility and our goal to be more proactive so people don’t have to report the content to us.”