When Facebook made the decision in 2019 to not fact check statements made by politicians, it appears to have failed to adequately consider how this decision would impact countries with different social and political “The sophisticated environments. Sanjana Hattotuwa, instrumentalization of PhD candidate at the University of Facebook by politicians and Otago, New Zealand, spoke about powerful proxies, just around the fact that Facebook did not have enough contextual information electoral moments in 2019 and about content in Sinhala and 2020, outstrips in scale and Tamil or the political environment complexity what [the platform] of Sri Lanka: “The sophisticated has responded to even in the instrumentalization of Facebook United States” (interview, by politicians and powerful proxies, Hattotuwa, 2021). just around electoral moments in 2019 and 2020, outstrips in scale and complexity what [the platform] has responded to even in the United States” (interview, 2021). In an email to the IFCN, Masato Kajimoto stated: “In many Asian countries, politicians are one of the major sources and disseminators of misinformation and disinformation who have a wide reach and influence. They should be held more accountable for what they say, in my view” (Mantas 2021). Platforms have likewise been criticized for their lack of transparency, especially with regards to situations where content is taken down or user access is blocked by a platform. In May 2021, in India, Instagram stories pertaining to relief efforts for Covid-19, volunteer activities, and political criticism were removed, as well as private chats on these topics. Instagram stated that it was due to a technical issue and later claimed that they had fixed it. They later claimed the problem was related to an update (Access Now 2021a). However, organizations such as Access Now, the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), and Human Rights Watch were concerned about the explanation provided by the platform, as it was unclear what exactly led to these takedowns and whether there was any government pressure at play. In addition, even though the platform stated that the takedowns were not related to the content itself, the content taken down in India was disproportionately pertaining to posts about Covid-19 relief, politics, and activism (Access Now 2021a). Mong Palatino also expressed concern about the lack of transparency on the part of platforms: “I think they should be more transparent. If they take down posts and accounts based on the request of governments, they should be more transparent about the criteria they use in complying with requests by the governments” (interview, 2021). I N FO R M ATI O N D I SO R D ER IN THE GLOBA L SOUTH While it is easy to blame social media companies for their inefficiencies in dealing with information disorder, it is important to keep in mind the complexities of the issue at hand. The sheer amount of mis- and disinformation online presents challenges in terms of human resources and time. One issue is the encryption of direct messaging platforms, which presents a major barrier to fact checking and identifying the flow of mis- or disinformation. To improve traceability, these platforms would have to change their technological structure. The feasibility of this is questionable and would also compromise the privacy of users. Another point to consider is how the algorithms used by social media platforms recommend content. “Clearly, their algorithms function in order to increase engagement. And engagement for the worst kinds of things is often highest, because of how we react to them emotionally,” said Nikhil Pahwa, journalist and founder of MediaNama, who believes that platforms should be held accountable for how their algorithms function (interview, 2021). It is definitely a point to consider; however, there does not seem to be a simple solution to this particular issue. Social media companies also have to deal with challenges concerning the religious and political environments of the countries they operate in. TikTok was banned in Pakistan in March 2021 after reviewing a complaint that said the popular video app hosted immoral and objectionable content. The Peshawar High Court Chief Justice, Qaiser Rashid Khan, described some videos on TikTok as “unacceptable for Pakistani society,” and said that these videos were “peddling vulgarity,” according to local media reports. The country had previously banned the app in October 2020 (Singh 2021). Ramsha Jahangir notes that the banning of TikTok is evidence of the influence of religion on politics in the country (interview, 2021). Various platforms encountered problems in India in 2021. At the time of writing, WhatsApp was suing the Indian government over new digital rules that will force the messaging service to violate privacy protections. In a statement, a WhatsApp spokesperson said that the rules “would break endto-end encryption and fundamentally undermine people’s right to privacy” (BBC News 2021b). Twitter has also run afoul of the government of India. In May 2021 several tweets posted by members of the ruling party of India were labelled “manipulated media” by the platform. Police officers visited Twitter’s office in New Delhi, and in June an investigation was launched into Twitter due Asia – 2 1 3