Facebook paying close attention to P.E.I. election

Islanders aren't the only ones paying attention to this year's election —  Facebook is too — and says it's taking a number of new measures to ensure accounts are secure, and fake news is kept out of the campaign.

Islanders head to the polls on April 23, and the social media giant says it has ways for all candidates to avoid getting hacked — and it's also going through political ads to make sure they're true.

2-factor authentication

Facebook says has made contact with all Island candidates to notify them how to use two-factor authentication to better secure their accounts.

That means they need a separate code, beyond the account password, to gain access.

"If someone uncovered your password to your Facebook account. They would actually need a second factor, a second thing, that belongs to you, in order to actually get in to your account," said Kevin Chan, Facebook's head of public policy.

Often candidates attach a cell phone to their account, Chan said. That code can be generate in the mobile app, or sent via text.

"So even if someone were to accidentally or maliciously gain control of your password, they may not have your phone. So they wont be able to hack in to your account."

Crisis line

Candidates were also given access to an e-mail crisis line, which they can alert if they feel their account has been compromised.

"If there is a suspected hack, or a party or candidate sees something suspicious they can reach us directly through this crisis line," Chan said.

This crisis line has been made available for other provincial elections and to federal political parties, MPs and senators.

The e-mail line is a direct-link to a team that's working to protect elections across the country.

Operating this security team are 30,000 employees, who work around the clock and review potential threats.

Facebook says the line was pioneered in Canada, and has been used a few times, but never on P.E.I.

Stopping fake news

Preventing account hacks isn't the only thing Facebook Canada's security team is working towards — they also hope to cut down on fake news.

If someone flags a news story, image or video on Facebook, third-party fact-checkers review the story and rate it for accuracy.

"Stories they rate as false have the distribution reduced in the newsfeed, dropping future views on average by more than 80 per cent."

Facebook Canada then notifies users when they try to share a story that has been rated false by fact checkers.

Is it enough?

Tim Currie, social media expert and director of King's College journalism program, said he's not sure if the new measures will go far enough, as people don't always notice labels like "sponsored post" attached to what they see in their feed.

"It's something that people are going to have to work for in order to really find out what they need to know based on reliable sources from different perspectives," he said.

"It's difficult for them to discern what is organic information coming from their friends and the pages that they follow versus information that comes from a paid interest."

Facebook said it has not encountered any issues with Canadian elections yet, and hopes to prevent any future ones.

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