Facebook forms team to spot troubles before they arise
San Francisco, June 24: Facebook has hired a team of ex-intelligence officers, researchers and media buyers to find the worst possible things that can be done using the platform and to help the company prevent them.
The group is called "Investigative Operations Team" and is testing the company's advertising systems, pages, Instagram, Messenger and more, BuzzFeed News reported on Saturday.
The team is searching for troubling behaviour, examining keywords and other signals that could be used to promote violence. It is also investigating Facebook's merchant tools, attempting to spot problematic product sales.
"What we have now is a series of people who are truly looking for how could you possibly do something wrong," said Lynda Talgo, the Facebook Business Integrity Director.
"Their entire job is to look forward and figure out what's coming around the corner," she added.
Facebook's creation of this team is the latest sign of an ongoing mindset shift among Silicon Valley's giants who are realising they can't simply assume the best of their users and must prepare for the worst behaviour imaginable.
Google has set up an "Intelligence Desk" at YouTube which is meant to detect controversial content before it mushrooms into crisis.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
EC orders repoll in all 285 polling stations of Falta seat in West Bengal on May 21
New Delhi (PTI): In a rare move, the Election Commission (EC) on Saturday ordered a "fresh" election or a repoll in all the 285 polling stations of the Falta Assembly seat in West Bengal on May 21 due to "subversion of democratic process".
A spokesperson for the poll panel said the counting of votes for the constituency will take place on May 24.
It is rare for the poll authority to order a re-election in an entire Assembly seat.
A fresh poll is a repoll, an official explained.
"On consideration of severe electoral offences and subversion of democratic process during the polling in a large number of polling stations on April 29 in Falta Assembly Constituency, EC directs that fresh poll shall be conducted in all the 285 polling stations, including auxiliary polling stations," the spokesperson said.
On Friday, the EC ordered a re-election in 15 polling stations of two Assembly seats in West Bengal -- Diamond Harbour and Magrahat Paschim.
The West Bengal Assembly polls were held in two phases on April 23 and April 29. The counting of votes for the remaining seats is scheduled to be taken up on May 4.
