As Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg who has pioneered the guy-next-door image for CEO’S sat down for his testimony before the US Congress the past couple of days, the world noticed his slightly different demenour. Zuckerberg was not only dressed in formals, which was the call of the moment, but he also looked more careful, tense, even nervous perhaps realizing the important impact his statements would have around the world.
For more than a billion strong Indian population, many of whom have taken to Internet as readily as fish to water, the testimony did spring an interesting surprise. Zuckerberg testified before the US Congress that he will ensure integrity of important elections around the world, including India.
As Indians too sat watching the live updates from the hearing, they couldn’t help but wonder if Zuckerberg’s claims can actually hold water in a country of more than 1.3 billion and limited internet penetration. Among the top 20 countries around the world, India remains on the lowest rung of Internet penetration. This despite the fact that by June 2018, the number of internet users in India is expected to reach 500 billion according to the latest report by Internet and Mobile Association of India. While the penetration in urban India has already reached 295 million, the rural India continues to lag behind. It is the urban-rural digital divide that has to be kept in consideration before any digital policies can be said to make remarkable difference.
But still, in an increasing world of fake news and troll handles that we now inhabit, Zuckerberg’s words hold due importance. Facebook came under scanner, when it was found that British firm Cambridge Analytica that was involved in Donald Trump’s election campaign improperly collected profile data of about 87 million Facebook users. This led to a huge uproar and the coming up of #deleteFacebook hashtag.
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Zuckerberg ensured the lawmakers that data privacy and foreign interference in elections are some of the biggest issues, the company is concerned with and feels a huge responsibility for. Importantly for Indians he categorically stated that Facebook was taking steps to ensure integrity of elections is maintained in United States, India, Brazil and Pakistan. Facebook’s failure to prevent Cambridge Analytica from gathering personal information of users to allegedly influencing elections has definitely led to a widespread distrust. But the young CEO maintains that post 2016 the company has already rectified things.
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What may be important to note is that Zuckerberg said that Facebook has deployed new Artificial Intelligence tools that better help in identifying fake accounts trying to spread misinformation. He also said that the new tools help identifying people when they try to create fake accounts. This may significantly be important for Indian elections as according to a Facebook report there are about 200 million fake Facebook accounts around the world towards the end of 2017. Exasperatingly, India is among the countries with highest number of such fake accounts. The numbers do indicate that perhaps we need a stricter vigilance and if Zuckerberg can even ensure some of it, then we do surely need it.
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