Tech giants join forces to curb misinformation

File picture: Pexels

File picture: Pexels

Published Aug 13, 2020

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Washington - With just a couple of weeks before American citizens head to the voting polls for the 2020 United States elections, renowned tech giants Facebook, Twitter, Google and Reddit come together as they plan how to curb false information during this month’s political conventions and election results on their platforms.

The tech companies met on Wednesday to discuss and look into various ways to scenario-plan for the last three months before Election Day in the United States

“We held the latest in a series of meetings with government partners today where we each provided updates on what we’re seeing on our respective platforms and what we expect to see in the coming months,” Google, Facebook, Twitter and Reddit said in a joint statement after the meeting, this is according to NBC News.

“Specifically, we discussed preparations for the upcoming conventions and scenario planning related to election results,” they said.

According to reports by NBC News the tech companies did not elaborate on what scenarios they discussed and whether they reached any decisions.

Election results this year are expected to come in later than in previous elections in part because the pandemic has led to a surge in interest in voting by mail. That means the focus on discussion of results could go on for days after in-person voting ends November 3, NBC News reported.

Democrats are said to hold their convention next week and Republicans the week after. These conventions will all happen virtually because of the coronavirus pandemic.

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