Meta, formerly Facebook, has announced plans to activate an elections operations centre for the 2023 general elections in Nigeria.
It stated that to help ensure a safe and secure general election in the country, it was investing in people and technology to reduce the spread of misinformation and remove harmful content across its apps.
It disclosed this in a post titled, ‘How Meta is preparing for Nigeria’s 2023 general elections’ by Head of Public Policy for Anglophone West Africa, Adaora Ikenze.
The firm stated that its work towards the elections would continue in the lead-up during, and after the vote. It said, “As election day approaches, we will activate a Nigeria-specific elections operations centre focused on identifying potential threats across our apps and technologies in real-time, accelerating our response time.
“This initiative will bring together experts from across our company on our intelligence, data science, engineering, research, operations, public policy and legal teams.”
Meta explained that part of its strategy to combat misinformation and false news would involve removing serious kinds of misinformation from Facebook and Instagram, such as content that could contribute to imminent violence or physical harm, or that is intended to suppress voting.
It stated that for the Nigerian elections, it would remove photos and videos shared out of context that falsely depict ballot stuffing, acts of violence, or weapons. It said it is working with independent fact-checking organisations such as AFP, Africa Check, Dubawa, and Reuters.
