Facebook on how it’s tackling interference ahead of the Australian elections

Image: TORSTEN BLACKWOOD/AFP/Getty Images

There isn’t an official date just yet, but Australian voters are set to head to the polls soon. 

Facebook has announced its plan to combat misinformation around the Australian federal election in 2019, rolling out similar measures to those it has implemented in the UK, EU and the U.S.

There will be restrictions on electoral ads being purchased outside of Australia, and the social media giant will partner with a news organisation for fact-checking.

Mia Garlick, Facebook’s director of policy for Australia, said the ban on political ad spending from foreign parties will begin the day after the election is called. It would also stop foreign-sponsored ads which carry political slogans and party logos.

Facebook will also work with news agency Agence France-Presse for fact-checking in Australia, as it has done with Germany wire service Deutsche Presse-Agentur and the Associated Press in other countries.

In Australia, there is a blackout on electronic political advertising from the Wednesday before the election date, until the close of polling, which happens on a Saturday. The blackout affects TV and radio, but doesn’t apply to online or social media. 

Aside from that, Facebook said it’s continuing action against fake accounts, as well as transparency around all of its ads through a searchable library, and providing more context around news articles posted on the platform.

Sure, it might all sound good, but there has been long-standing criticism of Facebook’s third party fact-checking partnerships.

In February, Snopes quit Facebook’s fact-checking program, which followed internal concerns that the partnership served as a form of crisis PR for the social media company, and didn’t actually solve the problem.

Facebook refuted the claims, and said when a piece of content was marked as false, it reduced impressions by an average of 80 percent.