lynetteconveThe 2016 presidential election caused many a great deal of concern because of how outside influences supposedly influenced American voters. While no evidence has been presented that is actually proven that any influence actually occurred, the truth is that foreign governments attempted to sway public opinion in a particular direction, and did this in one of the Internet’s most influential platforms – Facebook.
Facebook has taken a beating in the public forum over the last 18 months, as it has become apparent that countries purchased advertising space and ran stories through the Facebook newsfeed that were often inaccurate if not outright false. Yet, these stories still were displayed for tens of thousands of people across the country.
The Response
The response by Facebook was to create a policy that denied outside influences from being able to display ads in a certain area where they did not have residence or standing. This policy was used in the most recent constitutional referendum in Ireland, and is believed that it occurred with some success.
Only those who lived in Ireland or who had a direct stake in the referendum were allowed to advertise. This denied outside nations or policymakers from attempting to influence voters in one direction. The question is, did this actually work.
Looking for Verification
How Facebook – SicZine Facebook password hacker – has attempted to ensure that outside parties do not influence elections is by seeking confirmation that the individuals seeking advertising space is actually a resident of that nation. Unless the entity can verify that they are from that country than they would be blocked from providing advertising.
While it is believed that this will be carter for these countries to have success, it is not believed that this will be a 100% successful. There are literally thousands of ads that are placed on the social media platform each day, and it requires a team of over 20,000 to be able to go through each and every one of these ads to ensure that they are legitimate.
Facebook has promised to provide the necessary staffing, but that will take time and training, meaning that there will be many who will slip through the cracks in the meantime. In addition, they are still relying on people to ensure that an advertisement is legitimate, and everyone knows that human error will always play a factor.
It is true that this is a great first step, but may not have the full desired effect.