Page 24 - AT

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Tuesday 22 OcTOber 2019

In this Oct. 17, 2019, file photo Facebook CEO Mark
Zuckerberg speaks at Georgetown University in Washington.
Associated Press
Facebook ramps up

election security efforts

ahead of 2020

By BARBARA ORTUTAY to spread misinformation,
Package carrying drones are dispatched from a launch site the company calls the "Nest" in AP Technology Writer manipulate voters and
Christiansburg Va., Friday, Oct. 18 2019. With just over a year left meddle with democracy.
Associated Press until the 2020 U.S. presi- The company says it will
Google affiliate begins drone dential election, Face- also add more prominent
book is stepping up its labels on debunked posts
deliveries in Virginia town efforts to ensure it is not on Facebook as well as
used as a tool to interfere on Instagram. It will put
in politics and democra- labels on top of what
By RACHEL LERMAN to widen its radius eventually, though it did cies around the world. are deemed "false" and
AP Technology Writer not give a timeline for expansion. The efforts outlined Mon- "partly false" photos and
A Google affiliate started using drones Fri- Wing has already launched tests in Can- day include a special se- videos. But Facebook will
day to deliver customers' Walgreens and berra and Logan City, Australia, and Hel- curity tool for elected offi- continue to allow politi-
FedEx purchases in a test being run in a sinki. But Friday's flights mark its first live cials and candidates that cians to run ads contain-
Virginia town. commercial deliveries in the U.S. since re- monitors their accounts ing misinformation .
Wing, which is owned by Google parent ceiving the air carrier certification from the for hacking attempts Critics say Facebook's
Alphabet, received federal approval earli- FAA. such as login attempts measures don't go far
er this year to make commercial deliveries Wing CEO James Ryan Burgess noted the from unusual locations or enough and argue that
by drone. It was the first drone company to speed with which drones can make deliv- unverified devices. Face- the main problem is its
receive the approval in the U.S., beating eries — sometimes within minutes of order- book said Monday it will business model, which
out Amazon's Prime Air, which revealed its ing — and the environmental benefit of also label state-controlled depends on targeted ad-
drone plans in 2013. having fewer delivery trucks on roads. media as such, label vertisements and making
Earlier this month, UPS also got approval "We're looking at trends in cities including fact-checks more clearly sure that users stay en-
from the Federal Aviation Administration to congestion and environmental sustain- and invest $2 million in gaged and entertained.
fly delivery drones. The company has been ability," he said. "We see drone deliveries media literacy projects. Sen. Elizabeth Warren,
running delivery tests with WakeMed's hos- as a key part of solutions to these." The company also an- a leading Democratic
pital campus in Raleigh, North Carolina. In Wing's Australia pilot, Burgess said many nounced it has removed presidential candidate
Wing partnered with Walgreens, FedEx of the deliveries are for food and cold four networks of fake, and one of Facebook's
and local gift shop Sugar Magnolia to medicine — things people may need misinformation-spreading biggest critics , has pro-
perform the tests in Christiansburg, Virgin- when they don't want to leave the house. accounts based in Russia posed breaking it up.
ia. Walgreens customers in the town will But another popular drone delivery item and Iran. These networks Facebook also says it
be able to order from a list of more than is hot coffee, which the company is de- sought to disrupt elec- will add more informa-
100 items and get them delivered to their livering in partnership with a local coffee- tions in the U.S., North Af- tion about the people or
doors by drones. house. The coffee stays hot because the rica and Latin America, groups who establish or
The first Walgreens drone delivery custom- delivery often takes less than four minutes, the company said. In the manage Facebook pag-
ers ordered cough and cold medicine. A he said. past year, Facebook says es. The company said
Wing drone also delivered a FedEx pack- Privacy and safety concerns have been it has taken down 50 such Monday it has noticed
age from Dick's Sporting Goods to another a concern across the U.S. as drone use clusters of accounts, a groups and people "fail-
family in town. increases. But Burgess stresses that Wing's sign that efforts to use its ing" to disclose the orga-
Susie Sensmeier received a purple win- delivery drones do not operate with the services to disrupt elec- nizations behind pages
ter vest she ordered from Dicks Sport- same intention as those flown for hobbies. tions are not letting up. so people think it is run
ing Goods delivered by a drone to her The aim of Wing's drones is not to take "Elections have changed independently. Starting
front yard. The 81-year-old said she never pictures and video, he said, but rather to significantly since 2016 with large pages in the
thought she'd see something like it. safely make deliveries. and Facebook has too," U.S., Facebook says it is
"I didn't think I would live that long or it There are cameras on Wing's drones that CEO Mark Zuckerberg adding a new section
wouldn't come in my lifetime, I'm thrilled," are used for navigation, but Burgess said said in a conference call about "organizations that
she said. the images are processed onboard the Monday. The social net- manage this page."
The drones will start with a flying radius of aircraft and not streamed back to Wing's work was caught embar- Facebook says it will re-
about 4 miles (6.5 kilometers) from Wing's main servers. rassingly off guard during quire the page's creators
distribution facility in Christiansburg. The Wing has hinted it plans to expand the ser- the 2016 election, having to add this information in
drones are capable of flying a 12-mile vice to other towns, but has not revealed let others use its platform order to run ads. q
(19-kilometer) round trip, and Wing expects details.q