Facebook funds Harvard effort to fight election hacking

Facebook, with two billion monthly users, bills itself as a vehicle for political debate and education.

LAS VEGAS: Facebook Inc will provide initial funding of US$500,000 (RM2.13mil) for a nonprofit organisation that aims to help protect political parties, voting systems and information providers from hackers and propaganda attacks, the world's largest social network said on Wednesday.

The initiative, dubbed Defending Digital Democracy, is led by the former campaign chairs for Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Mitt Romney, and will initially be based at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, which announced the project last week.