Expert weighs in on Facebook cyber-security initiative

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VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – We are now less than two years away from the next Federal Election here in Canada, and a cyber-security expert is weighing in on Facebook’s recently-announced Canadian Election Integrity Initiative.

The initiative includes four main components, including a Cyber Hygiene Guide for Canadian political parties and politicians, and a news literacy partnership with Canada’s centre for digital and media literacy. It also offers a cyber threat crisis email line in case an account gets compromised.

But as for the question of whether it goes far enough.

“The ‘enough’ question will have to wait until after the election and we can look back on it,” explains Dr. Richard Smith with the Centre for Digital Media in Vancouver. “But it is at least taking responsibility and looking forward to possible problems. And certainly we saw problems in the American elections, the German elections, even BREXIT.”

He adds the way social media and elections interact has been problematic.

“It’s good to see Facebook acknowledging that and making some steps towards hopefully fixing it.”

He points out we have laws that govern how traditional media can report on things like elections but they haven’t been updated to include social media platforms like Facebook.

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