Mark Zuckerberg owned Facebook and Instagram once again got itself into a gaffe recently when they deleted a fact check post of Press Information Bureau (PIB). The fact-checking arm of PIB dismantled the claims made by one French Nobel Laureate named Luc Montagnier that people would die two years after taking the vaccine by sharing a post on all social media platforms, including Facebook and Instagram.
“An image allegedly quoting a French Nobel Laureate on #COVID19 vaccines is circulating on social media The claim in the image is #FAKE. #COVID19 Vaccine is completely safe Do not forward this image,” PIB had tweeted.
An image allegedly quoting a French Nobel Laureate on #COVID19 vaccines is circulating on social media
The claim in the image is #FAKE. #COVID19 Vaccine is completely safe
Do not forward this image#PIBFactCheck pic.twitter.com/DMrxY8vdMN
— PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) May 25, 2021
However, Facebook and Instagram, which claim to have top-level, highly qualified fact-checkers and moderators in their team, failed to rein in the fake news circulated on their platforms and instead deleted the PIB post which tried to clear the air of rumour-mongering. According to news reports, instead of owning up its mistake, the Silicon Valley giants warned that PIB’s page could be unpublished for posting false news.
As a result, PIB informed the Indian IT ministry, which told Facebook and Instagram about the lack of transparency on appeals and the fact-check process. Ultimately, both platforms had to restore the fact-checking post and to avoid losing the face, they put the blame on the machines for falsely flagging the news as false.
“Both the platforms claim to have robust fact-checking mechanisms in place,” an IT ministry official told a newspaper. “When we reached out to them on this, they said that this was done inadvertently since a machine flagged it as false news. We have asked them as to why it was not cross-checked by a human fact-checker.”
Facebook was one of the first social media companies to comply with the changed IT rules. When Twitter’s Delhi office was being raided by Delhi Police, a flustered Facebook took pre-emptive measures and announced that it was ready to comply with the provisions of the new government guidelines.
“We aim to comply with the provisions of the IT rules and continue to discuss a few of the issues which need more engagement with the government. Pursuant to the IT rules, we are working to implement operational processes and improve efficiencies,” a Facebook spokesperson was quoted as saying by ANI.
Reported by TFI, social media platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Google, and Twitter run the risk of losing their status as “intermediaries” and may become liable for criminal action if they do not comply with the revised regulations. While Facebook, WhatsApp and Google have seemingly complied with the IT laws, Twitter has been served the final notice by the government of India to enlist its Grievance officer and enlist compliance officer as well as appoint a company employee as grievance officer and a nodal contact person.
The government had announced the policy change in February earlier this year and the deadline elapsed on May 25 last month.
