How did YouTube, TikTok and Facebook perform in the report?
Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2025 5:31 am
In the experiment, Global Witness researchers presented 20 ads with false claims on Facebook, TikTok and YouTube. Somehow, YouTube managed to detect each submission, but this result did not apply to Facebook and TikTok.
According to the report:
TikTok approved 90% of ads that contained blatantly false or misleading information;
Facebook approved a “significant number ,” the report said, though notably fewer than TikTok.
Instead, Meta, in its official information on partial reports , reinforced its commitments to avoid interference in the vote and to share reliable information.
Additionally, a Facebook spokesperson said the test “ was based on a very small guatemala phone number list sample of ads and is not representative given the number of political ads we review daily around the world .”
Something similar is happening in Brazil. The same NGO, Global Witness, discovered that YouTube and Facebook are allowing false information during the second round of the 2022 presidential elections.
What is being done to stop fake news?
The leaders of the major social networks did not remain silent. Facebook's spokesperson also adds: " our ad review process has several layers of analysis and detection, both before and after an ad is published " to respond to Witness Global's claim.
On the other hand, we can see that they have made statements and guidelines for both the midterms in the United States and the presidential elections in Brazil. They all share some main points, such as:
invest in specialized equipment;
identify potential threats in real time;
work with independent fact-checkers;
advocating for transparency
It seems that Meta and TikTok are somewhat aware of this problem. And they welcome feedback from different NGOs. However, fake news on digital platforms is still a new phenomenon and it will take us more time to see relevant changes.
According to the report:
TikTok approved 90% of ads that contained blatantly false or misleading information;
Facebook approved a “significant number ,” the report said, though notably fewer than TikTok.
Instead, Meta, in its official information on partial reports , reinforced its commitments to avoid interference in the vote and to share reliable information.
Additionally, a Facebook spokesperson said the test “ was based on a very small guatemala phone number list sample of ads and is not representative given the number of political ads we review daily around the world .”
Something similar is happening in Brazil. The same NGO, Global Witness, discovered that YouTube and Facebook are allowing false information during the second round of the 2022 presidential elections.
What is being done to stop fake news?
The leaders of the major social networks did not remain silent. Facebook's spokesperson also adds: " our ad review process has several layers of analysis and detection, both before and after an ad is published " to respond to Witness Global's claim.
On the other hand, we can see that they have made statements and guidelines for both the midterms in the United States and the presidential elections in Brazil. They all share some main points, such as:
invest in specialized equipment;
identify potential threats in real time;
work with independent fact-checkers;
advocating for transparency
It seems that Meta and TikTok are somewhat aware of this problem. And they welcome feedback from different NGOs. However, fake news on digital platforms is still a new phenomenon and it will take us more time to see relevant changes.