New Delhi: Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, approved AI-manipulated political adverts during India’s election that spread disinformation and incited religious violence, according to a report shared with the Guardian.
The adverts included slurs against Muslims, such as “let’s burn this vermin” and “Hindu blood is spilling, these invaders must be burned”, and false claims about political leaders.
The adverts were created and submitted to Meta’s ad library – the database of all adverts on Facebook and Instagram – by India Civil Watch International (ICWI) and Ekō, a corporate accountability organisation, to test Meta’s ad approval system.
One ad called for the execution of an opposition leader, falsely claiming they wanted to “erase Hindus from India”, next to a picture of a Pakistan flag.
Fourteen out of 22 submitted adverts were approved, violating the company’s policies on hate speech and misinformation. Under Meta’s policies, political adverts have to go through a specific authorisation process before approval but only three of the submissions were rejected on this basis, according to the Guardian.
This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here.
