TikTok and Facebook accused of censoring false and fake news about the US election

An investigation by advocacy group Global Witness found that TikTok and Facebook approved ads containing false and misleading information about the 2024 US election.

TikTok and Facebook accused of censoring false and fake news about the 2024 US presidential election - Photo: Global Witness/Getty Images

The investigation results were announced on October 17, just a few weeks before the US presidential election officially began. The Global Witness group sent eight ads containing election misinformation to TikTok, Facebook and YouTube to test the platforms' advertising systems. The ads contained completely false information such as people can vote online, or content inciting violence against voters, candidates and threatening election workers. According to Global Witness, TikTok had the worst results when approving four out of eight ads despite the platform's policy banning all political advertising. Facebook approved one out of eight ads received. YouTube initially approved 50% of these ads, but required providing personal identification such as a passport or driver's license to post ads on the platform. Global Witness emphasized that this is a significant barrier for those spreading misinformation and fake news compared to other platforms. Responding to the information, a TikTok spokesperson explained that the four ads were "incorrectly approved during the initial review phase." She affirmed that the platform does not allow political advertising and will continue to enforce this policy on a large scale. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Meta - Facebook's parent company - disputed Global Witness's findings, saying that the results were based on only one small ad and therefore "do not reflect how we enforce our policies at large." The Meta spokeswoman said that ensuring online information about the 2024 election is one of the company's top priorities.

Online platforms are facing increased scrutiny after misinformation spread during the 2020 US presidential election. Google said on October 17 it would pause election-related advertising after the last polls closed on November 5. The tech giant also took the same action during the 2020 election. Meanwhile, Meta said it would block new political ads in the final week of the campaign.

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/tiktok-facebook-bi-cao-buoc-duyet-tin-sai-tin-gia-ve-bau-cu-my-20241018175917637.htm