NGOs demand actions from social networks against political violence

More than one hundred NGOs and other entities linked to issues such as environmentalism, human rights and LGBT and indigenous activism prepared a document with a series of demands for the main social media platforms, related “to issues of political violence and socio-environmental denialism”.

This is the second document presented in recent months by the group, made up of organizations such as the Marielle Franco Institute, the Vladimir Herzog Institute, Conectas Human Rights and the Climate Observatory. The research laboratory aligned with leftist militancy called Netlab, which operates within the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), is another to make up the group of entities, as well as the Sleeping Giants, which is dedicated to trying to make political targets economically unfeasible. that they don’t follow the left’s booklet by putting pressure on advertisers.

>> Be part of the Life and Citizenship channel on Telegram

Several of the organizations that signed the document have already received millionaire financial transfers from the Foundation open societycommanded by billionaire George Soros, which usually finances NGOs dedicated to political activism with a progressive bias.

The group calls for changes to the content moderation policies and terms of use of the platforms. In July last year, the entities had already asked social networks for new rules to, as they claimed, combat fake news and curb political violence during the 2022 election period.

In the new document, the group analyzes what has been done by platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Kwai, Telegram, TikTok and WhatsApp to “contain gender and racial political violence and climate and socio-environmental denialism” and brings 22 recommendations for changes.

Among the recommendations, organizations suggest changes such as:

• Insert the issue of political violence, in particular gender and race, among the policy priorities of all platforms;
• Treat allegations of voter fraud and voter fraud as misleading information harmful to the democratic process;
• Not monetizing channels and accounts that disseminate content that denies the climate crisis and deforestation;
• Establish a protocol to combat hate speech directed at indigenous and traditional peoples;
• Create councils focused on the socio-environmental agenda, composed of NGOs and social movements; among other changes.

NGOs point to “limited policies”

When evaluating each platform’s policy, the group claimed that “electoral integrity policies are still limited, not very descriptive and disregard local specificities”. They cite as an example the cases of “alleged fraud in electronic ballot boxes and incitement to attempt to abolish the Democratic State of Law” linked to supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL).

In the document, the group criticizes the platforms for not classifying content that calls for military intervention and the abolition of the rule of law, as well as the closure of public institutions, as “coup plotters”. Another questioned item is the “lack of transparency with structured information about advertisers and funders, and about the content of advertisements withdrawn from the air”.

The group also points out that “no platform adopts measures that mitigate the serious effects of gender and racial political violence on the mental health of individuals belonging to minorized social and political groups”.

Regarding the so-called “environmental denialism”, the organizations claim that “there are no or few rules and policies dedicated to curbing the spread of posts containing denialism of climate and environmental issues”, and mention that publications with these approaches continue to be monetized and recommended to users.

Platforms say mechanisms already exist

A People’s Gazette contacted the main companies that maintain social networks (Meta, WhatsApp, YouTube, Telegram and TikTok) to comment on the demands and changes suggested by the NGOs. So far, YouTube and Meta (Facebook and Instagram) have returned contact for the report.

According to a spokesperson for YouTube, the platform is already carrying out “continuous work” to ensure agility in removing channels and videos that violate the network’s rules, as well as “limiting the spread of dubious content” and “preventing the placement of ads in content that incites violence”. “We systematically review these policies to ensure compliance with applicable laws or other elements, such as emerging trends in misinformation,” he said.

Among the actions taken by the platform in “combating misinformation”, the advisory cited the update in hate speech and harassment policies in 2019; the launch of the policy on harmful content from conspiracy theories in 2020; the health disinformation policy related to Covid-19; and the electoral integrity policy, updated three times in 2022 so that it could address problematic content related to the Brazilian elections.

“From March to November 2022, we terminated more than 2,500 channels and removed more than 10,000 election-related videos in Brazil for violating our guidelines. More than 84% of removed videos were taken down before reaching 100 views,” explained YouTube.

The spokesperson for Meta, responsible for Facebook and Instagram, reported that content policies are always being improved based on consultations with experts to ensure the integrity of applications, especially during election periods.

“In addition to the set of global rules that we continuously apply, we have adopted specific measures aimed at the 2022 election in Brazil, taking into account local events. For example, we started to remove posts with requests for military intervention on Facebook and Instagram, in the context of the temporary designation of the country as a high-risk location,” the spokesperson explained.

Another Meta action, mentioned by the spokesperson, was in relation to the invasions that took place in Brasília, on January 8th. “We designate the breaches as a violating event, allowing the removal of any content supporting or extolling the acts,” he said.

Regarding the demands made by NGOs, Meta reported that “it does not allow hate speech on the platform” and that when identifying content of this type, they are “automatically removed”. On combating online violence against women in politics, Meta launched the Guide ‘Women in Politics: Combating Violence on Meta’s Platforms’, with the support of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) and the organization Women’s Democracy Network (WDN).