With the presidential elections looming, Meta is facing scrutiny over its handling of manipulated content, particularly in the case of a viral video depicting a false scenario involving US President Joe Biden and his granddaughter.
The oversight board, responsible for reviewing Meta’s content moderation decisions, deemed the tech giant’s current policy on manipulated content as inadequate and urged swift changes in light of the impending global elections.
The controversial video, reported as hate speech, portrayed Biden in a manipulated scenario that raised concerns.
While the board acknowledged that Meta technically followed its rules in leaving the video online, it criticized the existing policy as “incoherent” and called for a focus on preventing specific harms, especially to electoral processes.
Amidst growing fears of AI-powered disinformation, the board emphasized the prevalence of “cheap fakes” created with easily accessible smartphone editing features.
Additionally, it highlighted the exclusion of altered audio content from the current policy, despite the potential effectiveness of deep fake audio in deceiving users.
Meta responded, stating it would review the oversight board’s guidance and publicly address recommendations within 60 days.
The board emphasized the urgency of revising the manipulated media policy before the 2024 elections, citing the widespread misuse of technology for disinformation campaigns.
