AgenciesBengaluru: Facebook allocates only 13% of its budget to curb misinformation on its platform outside of the US, which includes India where it has its largest user base, a whistleblower has said citing internal documents of the company.
India, with over 530 million users, according to government data, is the largest market in terms of users for Facebook. In contrast, the US has around 200 million users and gets a disproportionate 87% allocation in its budget to curb misinformation.
Facebook’s algorithm also recommends misinformation, with around 40% of the sample views of civic posters in West Bengal was found fake and in one case, such an inauthentic post had over 30 million views, the whistleblower, Frances Haugen, a former product manager on Facebook's civic misinformation team said in her disclosures to the US Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC). Haugen had shared a trove of internal documents from Facebook anonymously through WhistleBlower Aid, a non profit in the US, to justify her allegations that the social network prioritised profits over user safety.
“Internal documents of Facebook show that RSS [Indian nationalist organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh] Users, Groups, and Pages promote fearmongering, anti-Muslim narratives targeted pro-Hindu populations with violence and inciting) intent. The whistle-blower letter says that Our lack of Hindi and Bengali classifiers means much of this content is never flagged or actioned, and we have yet to put forth a nomination for designation of this group given political sensitivities, the letter said.
ET has sent a detailed mail to Facebook for comments.
India, with over 530 million users, according to government data, is the largest market in terms of users for Facebook. In contrast, the US has around 200 million users and gets a disproportionate 87% allocation in its budget to curb misinformation.
Facebook’s algorithm also recommends misinformation, with around 40% of the sample views of civic posters in West Bengal was found fake and in one case, such an inauthentic post had over 30 million views, the whistleblower, Frances Haugen, a former product manager on Facebook's civic misinformation team said in her disclosures to the US Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC). Haugen had shared a trove of internal documents from Facebook anonymously through WhistleBlower Aid, a non profit in the US, to justify her allegations that the social network prioritised profits over user safety.
“Internal documents of Facebook show that RSS [Indian nationalist organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh] Users, Groups, and Pages promote fearmongering, anti-Muslim narratives targeted pro-Hindu populations with violence and inciting) intent. The whistle-blower letter says that Our lack of Hindi and Bengali classifiers means much of this content is never flagged or actioned, and we have yet to put forth a nomination for designation of this group given political sensitivities, the letter said.
ET has sent a detailed mail to Facebook for comments.
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