WhatsApp change eases the risk of fake news in the election – 01/18/2024 – Power

The improvement of features in WhatsApp channels, released this Wednesday (17) by the platform, could facilitate the spread of misinformation in the 2024 elections, according to experts consulted by Sheet.

The company announced new features for the tool that allow one-way sending to an unlimited number of users. Now, channel owners can choose up to 16 administrators and have access to new items involving voice messages, polls and sharing status cards — similar to Instagram stories.

The channels with an unlimited number of members, now updated, were launched in Brazil in September.

In general, the experts interviewed by the report believe that it is not clear what mechanisms the company intends to adopt to prevent the proliferation of fake news and deepfakes in the application, which could be boosted by the new resources available

According to Pedro Gueiros, law and technology researcher at ITS (Instituto Tecnologia e Sociedade) in Rio de Janeiro, improving functionalities brings important benefits for responsible communication, but also facilitates misinformation, especially during the electoral period.

“The sophistication of technology is inevitable, but it is necessary to reinforce mechanisms for people to know if the news is reliable”, he says.

An example of an important mechanism to be reinforced, argues the expert, is the use of flags that can indicate a potentially disinformative message, in addition to directing to verification pages.

Rafael Viola, professor of civil law and technology at Ibmec in Rio de Janeiro, in turn, assesses that the control mechanisms that platforms like WhatsApp have to curb misinformation are not clear.

“How to identify the tampering of a voice, for example? The control mechanisms that allow identifying and holding responsible those who intentionally use technology to cause harm, to disseminate misinformation, are not clear,” he says.

He highlights that, although disinformation has always existed, the possibility of immediate and mass communication increases the risks of interference in the democratic debate through the circulation of fake news.

For Viola, the country needs to move forward with new regulations, being careful not to fall into prior censorship, which is prohibited by the Brazilian legal system.

The TSE (Superior Electoral Court) has expressed concern about the spread of fake news on social media in the context of the October municipal elections. The advancement of technologies in 2023 has made the creation of deepfakes, which allow the creation of fake videos and audios through artificial intelligence, more sophisticated and accessible.

On the 25th, a draft resolution on electoral propaganda, which also deals with the use of this type of technology to manipulate content and the obligations of big techs, will be discussed in a public hearing at the court.

Apart from this resolution, there is the Fake News PL, which establishes transparency obligations and standards for social networks and private messaging services, but which is stalled in the Chamber of Deputies — and on which Meta, owner of WhatsApp, has already taken a position against.

Ana Bárbara Gomes, director of Iris (Internet and Society Reference Institute), states that recent changes to WhatsApp may imply a greater ability to organize groups with the intention of spreading misinformation.

On the other hand, they can also be useful to those who have the opposite objective, that of checking and correcting false information. “It’s also a way to allow news agencies to work more robustly and with a team.”

A positive aspect of the channels, he says, is the possibility of checking which of them are official, in order to guard against fake news.

She also highlights the importance of the application and social networks in a scenario where a significant portion of Brazilians do not have unlimited access to the internet. “Today, more than 70% of users in classes D and E use the internet only via cell phone, so it is the most popular means of accessing information”, she explains.

A Sheet asked Meta how the recently announced changes could facilitate the spread of misinformation and asked what measures the company plans to adopt to prevent the spread of fake news during the election period.

The company said in a statement that, after the launch of the channels, it continues “to work closely with fact checkers, who gain a new tool to provide people with updated and accurate information about potential fake news circulating online.”

Furthermore, it stated that users have choice and control over which channels to follow and that it encourages users to fact-check trustworthy sources. He also said that the channels have a tool that limits the forwarding of updates.

Additionally, WhatsApp stated that it “cooperates directly with local authorities”, including the TSE, “by complying with court orders to provide data collected from users”, pointing out that it does so within the platform’s limitations and in compliance with legislation Brazilian.