There’s a rise in the number of political ads appearing in media (TV , radio and social media), with no check/regulations on the validity of the facts stated in the ads (absence of Fact checking), it does pose a great danger to the democracy at large.
Twitter took a bold step and has banned all kinds of political ads on its platform. Facebook on the other hand has not. Moreover, FB has stated that it wont carry out any kind of fact checking on political posts.
I think it’s interesting to look at the way private companies in America are realizing the power they hold in the upcoming US Presidential election and how they react to it. This is especially interesting for social media companies who now have to recognize the power they hold and decide what they are going to do about disinformation and fake news on their platforms.
An interesting contrast can then also be made about their actions in America (in which they are based) and India (which they see as a market only and thus are willing to take up less responsibility).
Political ads, in particular, nowadays are full of false claims and sometimes border on hate speech. The question that arises then is that do these private companies then have any responsibility towards the people on their platform?
