Facebook Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg REUTERS/Carlos Jasso/File Photo
MANILA, Philippines — More than 21 groups and organizations urged social media platform giant Facebook to provide stronger content moderation initiatives in the upcoming 2022 national elections.
In an open letter addressed to Facebook and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, and other senior officers, the group underscored the need for the platform to address lapses in its algorithm, citing how much it has affected past elections and the present social climate in the country.
The groups noted that while Facebook has implemented several schemes to fight disinformation in the past years, none of the initiatives addressed its reliance on algorithms that “tend to amplify and reward the most inflammatory content, including disinformation.”
Even military and police officials, it said, used Facebook as a tool to red-tag activists, progressive groups, and even state universities.
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“These malicious top-down attacks – which have resulted in physical harm and attacks on individuals – are certain to worsen during the campaign,” the groups said.
They even cited former Facebook public policy director Katie Harbath, who described the Philippines as the “patient zero” of election-related disinformation.
