WhatsApp Must Act to Protect Elections
foundation.mozilla.org
Mozilla is making an urgent call for WhatsApp to implement three simple changes in its product to slow the spread of political disinformation and other harmful content on its platform.

The link above is for the petition

Here is the letter:

Our Letter To WhatsApp:

WhatsApp needs to implement these product changes during polling days and in the month before and the month after elections:

  • Add friction to forwarding messages: Reduce the ease with which messages can be forwarded on the platform by adding one additional step which nudges users to pause and reflect before they forward content.
  • Add disinformation warning labels to viral content: Automatically add clear “Highly forwarded: please verify” warning labels to viral messages, in addition to the “forwarded many times” label currently in use.
  • Reduce WhatsApp’s broadcast capabilities: Disable the Communities feature and also limit the size of broadcast lists to 50 people and cap their usage to twice a day.

Without decisive action from WhatsApp, disinformation attacks will likely scale up in 2024, aimed at manipulating and undermining elections affecting half of the world’s population. WhatsApp must act to change its product to protect election integrity.

  • iturnedintoanewt@lemm.eeEnglish
    2·
    6 months ago

    Whatsapp link previews are rendered at meta servers. They could display any propaganda or fake news warnings they wanted on those previews.

    • The Snark Urge@lemmy.worldEnglish
      6·
      6 months ago

      The fact that we’re having to ask Meta nicely to not screw up our elections after everything they’ve done is pretty dire straits. It’s a nice gesture from Mozilla, anyway.