Facebook is Improving Security for Upcoming Elections in Pakistan and Other Countries

Mark Zuckerberg announced in a post that Facebook will now make sure that no agencies or entities, especially Russia’s Internet Research Agency (IRA), will be allowed to manipulate people by spreading false news and misleading content to influence elections.

He emphasized that several countries, including Pakistan, will hold elections in the coming months. The social network will focus on confidentiality and prevent abnormal data use to allow fairness and transparency in the upcoming elections.

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AI’s & Security Personnel

In a response to a question asked by a Facebook user, Mark Zuckerberg said that 2018 is an important year for elections worldwide.

Moreover, he also announced that the company is making its security system more effective and will use AI to filter out Facebook posts that post false news and will also delete fake accounts.

The IRA used this strategy to influence voters in several countries including the US. It made hundreds of fake accounts and posted deceptive content to spread propaganda.

We have improved our techniques to prevent nation states from interfering in foreign elections, and we’ve built more advanced AI tools to remove fake accounts more generally. There have been a number of important elections since then where these new tools have been successfully deployed.

We have also significantly increased our investment in security. We now have about 15,000 people working on security and content review. We’ll have more than 20,000 by the end of this year.

Aftermath

Facebook’s heightened security levels are in response to the recent Cambridge Analytica case in which personal data of 87 million Facebook users was leaked. Cambridge Analytica – a political research company – used this data to influence US Presidential elections in 2016.

Facebook has also made several changes in the way their social network works and is on high alert these days. You can check Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook post here.