Statement by the Progressive Liberal Party
In a bid to clean up the false information polluting social media in The Bahamas, Hon. Philip Brave Davis, leader of the Progressive Liberal Party, sent a letter to Facebook’s California headquarters petitioning the multi-national company to change their internal policies that currently allow fake
organizations to advertise on their platform.
The Progressive Liberal Party has provided the names of 11 fake Facebook accounts which fraudulently represent themselves as legitimate organizations.
“One account describes itself as a “History Museum” – yet there is no such thing,” the letter reads.
“None of the accounts listed represent legitimate organizations. They have no offices. They have no staff. They cannot be contacted. They exclusively advertise political content, much of it defamatory and libelous.”
In the letter, Mr. Davis proposed that Facebook should require an organization to be legitimate before allowing it to advertise.
“We believe if you would take the simple step of requiring an organization to be legitimate before allowing it to advertise, you would have an enormous impact on the health of public discourse – without having to be the arbiter of what is or isn’t true.”
This move comes after a recent, noted increase in negative paid Facebook ads flooding Bahamian feeds, many using the PLP logo in order to falsely suggest a connection with the organization and at least one startling ad featuring Ann-Marie Davis and female PLP candidates with duct tape over their
mouths.
“It has been suggested to me by some that this is now standard practice in politics, and that in order to compete in the digital age, our party should also fund anonymous Facebook accounts that send out false information about our political opponents. I have refused to do this. I want to end this
poisonous practice, not contribute to it.”
Mr. Davis recognized that he was asking the global company to value truth and democracy ahead of its profits, “In asking you to remove these counterfeit accounts, we are asking you to put the integrity of our nation’s elections ahead of (your) profits.”
