Facebook approved adverts containing known slurs towards Muslims in India, such as "let's burn this vermin" and "Hindu blood is spilling, these invaders must be burned", as well as Hindu supremacist language and disinformation about political leaders.
Another approved advert called for the execution of an opposition leader falsely claimed to have wanted to "erase Hindus from India", next to a picture of a Pakistan flag.
The adverts were created and submitted to Meta's ad library - the database of all adverts on Facebook and Instagram - by India Civil Watch International (ICWI) and Ekō, a corporate accountability organisation, to test Meta's mechanisms for detecting and blocking political content that could prove inflammatory or harmful during India's ongoing six-week election.
According to the report, all of the adverts "were created based upon real hate speech and disinformation prevalent in India, underscoring the capacity of social media platforms to amplify existing harmful narratives".
The adverts were submitted midway through voting, which began in April and will continue in phases until 1 June. The election will decide if the prime minister, Narendra Modi, and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) government will return to power for a third term.
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