Meta approved anti-Muslim ads in India which spread violence

Meta approved anti-Muslim ads in India which spread violence

Tech giant Meta approved anti-muslim ads in India during the 2024 general elections that promoted violence and hate speech. The corporate watchdog Eko, Foundation the London Story (TLS), and India Civil Watch International (ICWI) have revealed it in the report.

They investigated the Meta Ad Library to analyze the background of advertisements running in India during elections. The published report is titled “Slander, Lies, and Incitement: India’s Million Dollar Election Meme Network.”

*The investigative organizations looked into 90-day period (ended on May 25) of elections campaign during which anti-Muslim ads were run in India*

According to this report, Facebook’s parent company, Meta, allowed AI-manipulated political advertisements that promoted misinformation and incited acts of religious violence. Hence, it was a specific target for Muslims.

The report showed how ads exploited the virtual public information and boosted an organized disinformation campaign under the nose of the Election Commission of India.

The investigative organizations uploaded several provocative advertisements to verify whether Meta removed them. They found that Meta’s system did not block a series of offensive ads.

They had used insulting remarks against Muslims in India in the ads that Meta’s ad library uploaded. Examples of those uploading ads were Let’s burn this vermin (attributing to Muslims). These invaders must be burned as Hindu blood is spilling.

In another advertisement, investigators used hateful Hindu language and lied about political leaders. For example, an opposition Muslim leader appeared to want to remove Hindus from India and call for their death.

*Investigative Report title page by Eko, Foundation the London Story, and ICWI on malicious anti-muslim ad campaigns*

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The report suggested that all of the ad’s themes were real hate speech and disinformation that is common in India. This shows that social media sites can enhance negative narratives already in place.

Meta approved 14 of their 22 anti-Muslim ads, submitted in English, Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, and Kannada languages in India. However, they approved the remaining three ads after making minor changes that did not change the general provocative and hateful theme against Muslims.

Moreover, Meta disapproved only five ads out of 22 due to their hate speech and violent content.