Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Saturday 21 december 2019
Facebook to tackle efforts to interfere with 2020 US census

By BARBARA ORTUTAY and It can also "downrank" false
MAE ANDERSON or misleading posts — in-
AP Technology Writer cluding videos — so that
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — fewer people will see them.
Facebook plans to clamp Such material can also be
down on attempts to use paired with fact checks
its services to interfere with produced by outside orga-
the 2020 U.S. census, in- nizations, including The As-
cluding the posting of mis- sociated Press.
leading information about But Facebook is defining
when and how to partici- misleading census posts as
pate, who can participate a violation of its community
and what happens when standards and thus subject
people do. to removal.
Facebook and other social Google is also trying to pre-
media companies have vent misinformation about
been trying to tackle misin- the census from spreading.
formation on their services, It set up a team to focus
especially ahead of next on preventing hoaxes and
year's U.S. presidential elec- misleading information. It
tions. They already have In this Aug. 13, 2019, file photo a worker gets ready to pass out instructions in how fill out the 2020 also expanded a YouTube
similar policies around voter census during a town hall meeting in Lithonia, Ga. policy to make it clear that
suppression, banning mis- misinformation about the
leading information about every 10 years, is crucial formation could include failed in the past." census is prohibited on the
when and where to vote, to determining how many warnings of deportation False and inaccurate infor- site and will be taken down.
for instance. representatives a state to discourate Latinos from mation is already circulat- Facebook has long tried to
Facebook said Thursday it gets in Congress and which participating, even though ing online about the cen- steer clear of having to po-
will prohibit advertisements states and cities get billions federal law prohibits the sus. For example, posts in lice its content, claiming it is
that portray taking part in of dollars in federal fund- Census Bureau from shar- neighborhood chat groups a platform, not a publisher.
the census as "useless or ing for roads, health care, ing census data, including warned that robbers were But after revelations that
meaningless" or that en- low-income programs and with law enforcement and scamming their way into that Russians bankrolled
courage people not to par- other projects. The results of immigration officials. people's homes by asking thousands of fake political
ticipate. The company also the 2020 census also will be Rashad Robinson, president to check residents' identifi- ads during the 2016 elec-
said it will try to identify and used to redraw electoral of civil rights group Color of cation for the census. That tions, Facebook and other
remove misleading census maps. Change, which has pushed was a hoax, but it left Cen- social networks faced in-
posts before people see Civil rights leaders worry Facebook to combat rac- sus Bureau officials scram- tense pressure to ensure
them. But it will also remove that misinformation that dis- ism and misinformation, bling to get the posts re- that doesn't happen again.
any posts it misses after the courages immigrants and called Facebook's new moved from Facebook. It tightened political ad re-
fact, using both technolo- minorities from participat- policy "welcome progress." Facebook sometimes plays quirements including verify-
gy and humans to spot vio- ing in the census or voting But Robinson said the pol- down misleading content ing political ad buyers and
lations. The company said could lead to those popu- icy "is only as good as its rather than banning it out- archiving all political ads for
it will begin enforcing the lations being underrepre- enforcement and transpar- right, as it did with a faked the public. But many have
census policy in January. sented in key government ency, which, to be clear, is video of Nancy Pelosi that found ways to slip through
The census, which happens decisions for years. Misin- an area that Facebook has went viral earlier this year. the cracks of the system.q

France fines Google $166 million

for abusing ad dominance

clarify the rules for Google that it would appeal, and gument that it's protecting
Ads and its procedures for that its advertising policies consumers is "perfectly le-
freezing accounts, to avoid are designed to protect gitimate," its rules are ap-
"brutal and unjustified" sus- consumers "from exploit- plied incoherently, with
pensions. ative and abusive ads." some companies' ads al-
It's the latest in a string of The case originated from a lowed and others that sell
European fines against complaint that online con- similar services suspended,
In this Monday, Nov. 18, 2019 file photo, the logo of Google is
displayed on a carpet at the entrance hall of Google France in Google, which faces very sulting company Gibmedia the authority said.
Paris. little competition for search filed after Google suspend- It accused the company
Associated Press engine business across the ed its ad account in 2015. of "at best negligence, at
continent. The company During and after their pro- worst opportunism" by ini-
PARIS (AP) — France's buyers of ads based on has been hit in recent years tracted dispute, Google tially offering services to
competition authority fined keywords. Methods used with multibillion-dollar fines published similar ads to advertisers that it consid-
Google 150 million euros by its Google Ads platform imposed by European those run by Gibmedia, ac- ers dubious and later sus-
($166 million) on Friday for are "opaque and difficult Union authorities for unre- cording to the ruling, which pends, just to grow profits.
"abusing its dominant posi- to understand" and the lated antitrust cases and also cites other examples The ruling details multiple
tion" in the online ad mar- company applies them in is also facing increasing of companies Google sus- questions about Google's
ket. an "unequal and arbitrary regulator pressure on other pended without justifica- ad algorithms that the
The agency said the U.S. way," it said. fronts in Europe and the U.S. tion. competition authority says
tech company mistreated It also ordered Google to Google said in a statement While it says Google's ar- have gone unanswered.q