As you know, the voting day for the 15th General Election (GE15) has been set for 19 November 2022. Accordingly, Meta Malaysia is now taking a number of specific steps and initiatives in an effort to deal with various inappropriate content on its platform. This includes combating the spread of false information, hate speech and provisions to improve digital literacy in Malaysia.
Through it Meta acts proactively creating a team and specialized technology in curbing the rise of fake news. This includes filtering out various negative content that can interfere with voting, for example such as incorrect information about the election date or candidate numbers. Especially on their main platforms like Facebook and Instagram.
If there are users who can still see it, the content will be labeled and the appropriate link will be provided for further review. In this process, Meta also works with independent fact-checking organizations such as Agence France-Presse (AFP) to verify each reported post. At the same time, Meta will also launch a reminder about voting on Facebook which also provides official information from the Malaysian Election Commission (SPR).
Undoubtedly, many cases involving the spread of fake news through the WhatsApp application have also occurred. In an effort to curb it, there is a limit imposed on messages that can be forwarded, where the maximum is five times only and limited to one group.
In addition to that, Meta also improves the transparency of political ads on its platform by verifying the identity and location of an organization that pays for the ad. At the same time, an ad library was also created to allow users to see what ads are currently being broadcast and the expenditure for them.
In addition, a digital literacy program called We Think Digital was also launched in an effort to enable users to think critically about every content found on the Internet. This program has the cooperation of Teach for Malaysia (TFM) and Universiti Malaya.