As we head into the New Year, social media platforms Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram made the wise decision detox to by removing a few profiles spreading out misleading information.
Despite Twitter and Facebook’s differing policies on political ad campaigns, the two platforms announced a mass removal of accounts to prevent misinformation.
As per Social Media Today, the following steps were taken:Â
- Twitter removed 5,959 accounts originating from Saudi Arabia.
- Facebook removed 39 Facebook accounts, 344 pages, 13 groups, and 22 Instagram accounts originating from the country of Georgia.
- Facebook also removed 610 accounts, 89 Facebook pages, 156 groups, and 72 Instagram accounts originating from the US and Vietnam.
As reported by The New York Times, “…Facebook found that the latter instance a network linked to Epoch Media Group the Pages and profiles utilized fake profile photos which had been generated with the help of artificial intelligence.”
Only time will tell how useful the measures taken were for each platform and its users.
Facebook stated that “Pages that repeatedly publish or share misinformation will see their distribution reduced and their ability to monetize and advertise removed.”
Removal of the profile is bound to prevent misinformation spreading and impacting the decisions users take under the influence of misleading information seen on the platforms, which then will go on protecting users which is the main criteria for all Social Media platforms this year!
The fact that Social Media platforms are taking measures towards keeping their users safe, we do hope this implementation, in particular, is helpful and has an impact on users as well as political decisions (in terms of Voting).
In a way, this is a fresh start as we step into 2020 for the platforms wherein they have cut cords within the platforms from those users who may be violating policies and misleading users!
What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below
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