Meta fights deepfakes and misinformation in India ahead of 2024 elections
Tech giant Meta is preparing for the 2024 global elections, having outlined plans to “protect elections online” as global democracies prepare to vote this year. India, often considered the world’s largest democracy, is one such country, and Meta is working to combat an epidemic of deepfakes and misinformation ahead of the spring election. On Monday, […]
Tech giant Meta is preparing for the 2024 global elections, having outlined plans to “protect elections online” as global democracies prepare to vote this year. India, often considered the world’s largest democracy, is one such country, and Meta is working to combat an epidemic of deepfakes and misinformation ahead of the spring election.
On Monday, the company announced a dedicated fact-checking hotline on WhatsApp for users in India, launched in partnership with the country Disinformation Alliance (MCA). The helpline will specifically work to assess artificial intelligence-generated media, also known as deepfakes. People will be able to report deepfakes to a WhatsApp chatbot available in English and three Indian languages: Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. MCA will work alongside its Deepfakes Analysis Unit, a network of independent fact-checkers, research organizations and industry partners to identify and verify this content, thereby flagging and debunking misinformation.
Starting in March, the helpline will be accessible to the public. India would have 535.8 million monthly active users on WhatsApp, making it the country with the most users in the world.
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Meta says the program aims to detect, prevent and report misinformation, but also to draw attention and awareness to “the growing spread of deepfakes.”
Shivnath Thukral, director of public policy at Meta in India, said: “We recognize concerns about AI-generated misinformation and believe that combatting it requires concrete and cooperative measures across the industry. »
His sentiment is echoed by MCA Chairman Bharat Gupta, who said: “The Deepfake Analysis Unit (DAU) will serve as a critical and timely intervention to stop the spread of AI-based misinformation among social media and internet users in India. »
Artificial intelligence has been reported as a threat to upcoming elections everywhere, and India is no different. A new study from George Washington University predicts a near-daily frequency of “bad actor AI activity” in 2024 – a danger that can “affect election results in more than 50 countries” going to the polls this year. These threats range from AI-generated videos posted on social media platforms to hackers influencing results, according to international affairs think tank Chatham House.
OpenAI’s new election rules are already being put to the test
AI-generated content has become something of an epidemic in Indian politics: a recent investigation by Al Jazeera pointed out that members of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party — ready to win the elections this year – and Congress, the main opposition party, have been targets of deepfakes, which are mainly broadcast on WhatsApp. There have also been incidents where the technology has been used by party members themselves. In 2020, a prominent BJP MP used deepfake technology to create campaign videos in different Indian languages.
In India, deepfakes have already infiltrated political life and have been declared technology/india-drawing-up-laws-regulate-deepfakes-minister-2023-11-23/” target=”_blank” title=”(opens in a new window)”>a “threat to democracy” by the country’s Minister of Information technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw. India currently does not have laws clearly addressing or defining deepfakes, but is working to do so. draft rules to limit the dissemination of harmful content. A senior official from Modi’s party warned that social media companies would be held responsible for any deepfake posted on their platforms.
“We are the largest democracy in the world [and] we are obviously deeply concerned about the impact of cross-border actors using misinformation, disinformation and deepfakes to cause problems in our democracy,” Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Electronics and IT. say it Financial Times. “We were aware of this earlier than most countries, because it negatively impacts us much more than small countries.”
Modi himself has also raised these concerns, calling on world leaders to regulate AI as early as November 2023; However, his critics made it clear that the politician recognizes the power of technology and social media to connect with Indian voters, creating a clear digital brand and mobilizing supporters to boast about your feelings.
