DMC warned about Facebook Complacency towards swamped misinformation ahead of the legislative elections

Shafaq News/ The Digital Media Center (DMC) decried Facebook's Complacency towards the "political manipulation" of the public opinion in Iraq, in reference to the cyber armies spreading false information on social media.

DMC said in a statement to Shafaq News Agency that it detected activity of public pages spreading false information on social media. Despite denying that news later by the official Iraqi authorities, Facebook did not take any measures against those pages or accounts.

The center warned of Facebook's behavior ahead of the Iraq elections, calling the parties in charge of the Integrity of the electoral process to protect the voter from the false information that might tamper with the elections.

Facebook has repeatedly allowed world leaders and politicians to use its platform to deceive the public or harass opponents despite being alerted to evidence of the wrongdoing.

The Guardian has seen extensive internal documentation showing how Facebook handled more than 30 cases across 25 countries of politically manipulative behavior that was proactively detected by company staff.

The investigation shows how Facebook has allowed major abuses of its platform in poor, small and non-western countries in order to prioritize addressing abuses that attract media attention or affect the US and other wealthy countries. The company acted quickly to address political manipulation affecting countries such as the US, Taiwan, South Korea, and Poland, while moving slowly or not at all on cases in Afghanistan, Iraq, Mongolia, Mexico, and much of Latin America.