Investigation uncovered networks reaching 1.7m people that were spreading fake news
Facebook has taken down several networks that were spreading far-right content to nearly 1.7 million people in Spain, days before national elections that are expected to see a surge in support for the far-right Vox
party.
The networks were uncovered in an investigation by the campaign group Avaaz, and taken down only after it presented Facebook with its findings.
The discovery of a large network, spreading politically sensitive content unmonitored days before a key European election, is likely to add to concerns about social media firms’ willingness and ability to control hate speech and criminal activity on their sites.
On Wednesday British MPs condemned Facebook, Google and Twitter for their refusal to report users to the police when they remove criminal posts, except in rare cases when there is an immediate threat to life or limb.
Spain will go to the polls for the third time in under four [...]
Who are Facebook? Facebook, Inc. is an American online social media and social networking service company based in Menlo Park, California. It was founded by Mark Zuckerberg, along with fellow Harvard College students. It is considered one of the Big Four technology companies along with Amazon, Apple, and Google
Facebook held its initial public offering (IPO) in February 2012, valuing the company at $104 billion, the largest valuation to date for a newly listed public company. Facebook claimed it had more than 2.3 billion monthly active users as of December 2018. However, it faces a big problem of fake accounts. It caught 3 billion fake accounts, but the ones it misses are the real problem. Facebook is one of the world's most valuable companies.
What is Far-Right? Far-right politics are politics further on the right of the left-right spectrum than the standard political right. Particularly in terms of extreme nationalism, nativist ideologies, and authoritarian tendencies. The term is often used to describe Nazism, neo-Nazism, fascism, neo-fascism and other
ideologies or organizations that feature ultra-nationalist, chauvinist, xenophobic, racist, anti-communist, or reactionary views. These can lead to oppression and violence against groups of people based on their supposed inferiority, or their perceived threat to the native ethnic group, nation, state or ultraconservative traditional social institutions.
Who are TheGuardian? The Guardian is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as The Manchester Guardian, and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers The Observer and The Guardian Weekly, The Guardian is part of the Guardian Media Group, owned by the Scott Trust. The trust was created in 1936 to
"secure the financial and editorial independence of The Guardian in perpetuity and to safeguard the journalistic freedom and liberal values of The Guardian free from commercial or political interference".
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