How Facebook is trying to prevent foreign interference in Singapore’s upcoming general election

In a conference organised by the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies yesterday (Sept 26), Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam made clear that foreign attempts to influence politics — especially in today’s internet era — have no place at all in Singapore. 

To get on the good side of the Singapore government — and also to make amends over its failure to detect Russian interference on the platform during the 2016 US Presidential election — Facebook has rolled out ad transparency tools to ensure that the upcoming General Election won’t get meddled with by foreign bodies. 

What this means is that anyone who wants to run Facebook ads about social issues, elections or politics in Singapore will be required to confirm their identity and location, on top of revealing who’s responsible for the paid post. 

All done in the name of accountability and transparency, says Facebook Public Policy Director Katie Harbath: 

“Facebook has incredible potential to be a positive force for democracy around the world. It gives people a voice regardless of their age or political beliefs, and it encourages debate and the exchange of ideas. To enable healthy discourse in Singapore, we’ve taken steps to reduce the spread of misinformation, help prevent foreign interference in elections and - more recently — to bring greater transparency and authenticity to advertising.”

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Say what you will about Facebook’s scandal-filled 2018 (from sluggish action against hate speech and misinformation to that whole Cambridge Analytica catastrophe), but 2019 sees the social media behemoth finally trying to fix things.

Will Facebook’s attempts actually be effective or enough though? Heck knows, but at least it’s something. Despite recent missteps. 

Thing is, the political ad transparency tool has been released overseas since June. But the fact that Facebook has since rolled out the tool for Singapore would mean we’re edging ever closer to the General Election. Specifically, one that’s being held in a post-Cambridge Analytica world, in which control over data points and social media posts are proven to hold a large influence over outcomes of national elections. 

How Facebook aims to reduce such an impact over here is by acting to reduce foreign interference in the socio-political arena on the social media platform. 

“The authorisation process is also required for advertisers wanting to run ads related to specific social issues, such as those about Civil and Social Rights, Immigration, Crime, Political Values and Governance,” noted Harbath about the ad transparency tools. 

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“These four social issues were decided based on external consultation and our internal research, which found that Singaporeans discuss, debate or advocate for or against these issues on Facebook.” 

It’s probably interesting to note as well that just yesterday, Shanmugam questioned about where The Online Citizen — an alternative news portal known for raising socio-political issues —  gets its funding from. 

It would be safe to say that if The Online Citizen (or any other local sociopolitical entity) wants to run sponsored posts on Facebook, it’ll have to come clean about who wrote and green-lit them. After all, it’s now mandatory for advertisers to provide personal information like contact numbers, email addresses, and affiliated websites. 

“We will continue to refine and improve our policies and tools as part of our commitment to help protect the integrity of elections in Singapore and around the world,” concluded Harbath. 

ilyas@asiaone.com