By Facebook on Wednesday announced its plans to remove any content found to be in violation of the policy it has formulated to check hate speech in view of elections in four states and the Union Territory of Puducherry. It cited experiences from the earlier elections and added Facebook is now taking steps to enhance civic engagement, combat hate speech, limit misinformation, and remove voter suppression.
The first phases of staggered elections in West Bengal and Assam were held on March 27. Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry will go to the polls on April 6. The election results will be declared on May 2 following the conclusion of the remaining seven-phase polls in West Bengal and two more rounds of polling in Assam.
Facebook, which counts India as its biggest market with 400 million users, said it has invested in a proactive technology to detect and reduce the distribution of content in violation of the policy. It added the social media firm is also deploying technology to identify new words associated with hate speech.
The company has also pledged to reduce the distribution of content from the accounts found to have repeatedly violated its policies. It added it has partnered with eight third-party fact-checking organisations to tackle misinformation during elections.
