"Social media firms ‘not ready to tackle misinformation’ during global elections" 15 September 2023

Social media companies are not ready to tackle misinformation during elections due to take place around the world in 2024 because of language barriers, experts warn.

Global Coalition for Tech Justice, a movement of civil society leaders and survivors of tech harms, is calling on leading big tech companies, including Google, TikTok, Meta and X, to ensure that their platforms are equipped to protect democracy and safety during votes next year.

In 2024, 2 billion people are due to vote in more than 50 elections, including in the US, India and the EU.

In July, the coalition asked Google, Meta, X, and TikTok to establish fully resourced election action plans, at the global and country levels, for the protection of freedoms, rights and user safety during the 2024 elections. Social media companies did not respond to this request to share their plans. The coalition had sought details of the number of employees and contractors for each language and dialect to ensure there is expertise on national and regional context for content moderation...

...South Africa has seen violence caused by xenophobia on social media targeted towards migrants, refugees and asylum seekers.

In India, which has seen a new wave of anti-Muslim violence, the coalition claimed that Meta had flouted its own rules on hate speech propagated by the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP)...

...Meta, X, TikTok and Google were contacted for comment.