Facebook gets more serious about ‘inauthentic behaviour’ from users, governments

Facebook this week revealed updated policies regarding inauthentic behaviour on the platform to help reduce public manipulation and misinformation.

According to the company, inauthentic behaviour, particular co-ordinated inauthentic behaviour (CIB), involves online campaigns that “conceal the identity of the organization behind a campaign” or “make the organization or its activity appear more popular or trustworthy than it is”.

These acts usually attempt to convince the public of a certain ideal or belief and manipulate audiences into supporting or rejecting various organisations.

“When we find domestic, non-government campaigns in which the use of fake accounts is central to the operation, we will remove all inauthentic and authentic accounts, Pages and groups directly involved in this activity,” the company explained on its blog.

Additionally, Facebook will also remove inauthentic behaviour from government organisations as well, including both foreign and local governments trying to manipulate a country.

“If we see any instances of CIB conducted on behalf of a government entity or by a foreign actor, we will apply the broadest enforcement measures including the removal of every on-platform property connected to the operation itself and the people and organizations behind it,” it added.

The new policy updates come after Facebook also announced its attempts to protect upcoming 2020 elections in the United States. The company was notoriously involved in manipulating the country’s last election.

Going a step further, Facebook on Monday also released features to combat misinformation on Instagram as well.

Feature image: Facebook