2023: FG commends Meta’s position on incoming polls

The owners of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, Meta, have received praise from the Federal Government (FG) for their efforts to preserve the credibility of the general elections in 2023.

At the 12th instalment of the President Muhammadu Buhari Scorecard Media Briefing Series on Wednesday in Abuja, Minister of Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed praised the act and urged other operators of social media platforms to follow suit.

He claimed that the social media behemoth's stance confirms the necessity of the government's fight against false information.

Before Umana Umana, the minister of Niger Delta affairs made her presentation, the minister said “Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, during one of our earlier sessions here, I spoke about the dangers posed to the 2023 elections by fake news and disinformation.

“I said the increasing resort to fake news and disinformation by some political actors and a section of the media constitutes a clear and present danger to the success of the elections, just like violence, insecurity, vote buying, attack on INEC facilities, etc.

“In this regard, I want to acknowledge the announcement by Meta, the owners of Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp, that it will take clearly-outlined steps to protect the integrity of the forthcoming elections.

“Meta detailed the actions it plans to take to combat disinformation and make political advertising more transparent. The company committed to these actions before, during and after the elections.

“This is commendable and in line with what we have always said, that the platform owners have a big role to play in checking the spread of fake news, disinformation and hate speech via their platforms.

“Meta has demonstrated a great sense of responsibility, and we hope the company will live up to its promise.

“We also urge other platform owners like Google (owners of YouTube and others), ByteDance (owners of TikTok), Twitter and the Telegram Group Inc. (owners of Telegram messenger) to emulate Meta by taking positive steps to prevent the spread of fake news, disinformation and hate speech via their platforms ahead, during and after the 2023 elections.”