Facebook Turns to Atlantic Council for ‘Eyes and Ears’ During Future Elections

Facebook global politics and government outreach director Katie Harbath announced in a Newsroom post that the social network’s security, policy and product teams will work closely with Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab to collect “real-time insights and updates on emerging threats and disinformation campaigns from around the world.”

Atlantic Council’s Digital Research Unit Monitoring Missions will also be tapped by Facebook during elections and “other highly sensitive moments” in order to enable the social network to focus on particular geographic areas and monitor potential misinformation and foreign interference.

Harbath wrote, “This will help increase the number of ‘eyes and ears’ we have working to spot potential abuse on our service, enabling us to more effectively identify gaps in our systems, pre-empt obstacles and ensure that Facebook plays a positive role during elections...