“Facebook is currently a tool of Russian President Vladimir Putin and this social network is becoming a weapon of information warfare; Meta is not doing enough to stop this phenomenon”, said U.S. Congressman Patrick Maloney. He is one of the signatories of an open letter in which U.S. lawmakers are asking Meta to address pro-Russian misinformation in Slovakia. Congressman Jason Crow, a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said that "we can't allow" pro-Russian misinformation to keep flooding Facebook. "We've recently learnt of the damage this misinformation is causing in countries such as Slovakia, and we're urging Mark Zuckerberg to take action against Kremlin propaganda on Facebook," Crow wrote on Twitter. Chair of the House Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff and four other Democratic Party lawmakers sent an open letter to Zuckerberg, asking Meta to address the pro-Russian misinformation that is spreading in Slovakia.
Prime Minister Eduard Heger praised on Wednesday the letter written by U.S. lawmakers, thanking them for their help. "We're a small country, a small market. But we're a member of the North Atlantic Alliance, the European Union and we're neighbours to Ukraine,” noted the Slovak Prime Minister. According to him, the letter is the result of the joint efforts of many people who stand for the truth in Slovakia and in the world.
According to Ekaterina Kudrina from Meta's press department for Central and Eastern Europe, Meta is taking action against the spread of misinformation on its platforms. It is deleting posts that violate its rules and is cooperating with external experts and public administration bodies, including in Slovakia. According to Kudrina, Meta has regular meetings with representatives of the authorities in Slovakia. In Central and Eastern Europe, it's organised educational campaigns aimed at identifying potential disinformation.
Source: TASR
