facebook opens operations center in dublin ahead of european union elections the social network took the wraps off a special operations center in dublin ahead of this months european union voting creditpaulo nunes dos santos for the new york timesmay 5 2019dublin inside a large room in facebooks european headquarters in irelands capital about 40 employees sit at rows of desks many with two computer screens and a sign representing a country in the european unionlarge screens at the front display charts and other information about trends on the social networks services including instagram and the messaging app whatsapp in the back muted televisions broadcast bbc and other european news stationsthe cramped space is home to facebooks newly opened operations center to oversee the european unions parliamentary election which will be held may 23 to may 26 in 28 countries modeled after the war room that the silicon valley company created before last years midterm elections in the united states the people inside are tasked with washing facebook of misinformation fake accounts and foreign meddling that could sway european voters a similar command post was set up in singapore for elections in india eager to show it is taking threats seriously as it faces pressure from governments across europe to protect the integrity of the election facebook invited about two dozen journalists to visit its hub last weekwe are fundamentally dealing with a security challenge said nathaniel gleicher facebooks head of cybersecurity policy there are a set of actors that want to manipulate public debatethe social network has good reason to be proactive after russians used the platform to influence american voters in the 2016 presidential election the company has since taken down several networks of accounts linked to foreigninfluence campaigns including some targeting users in europe imagecreditpaulo nunes dos santos for the new york timesthe european election will determine who controls the european parliament and sets the agenda of the european union for the next five years it will influence how the region grapples with issues like britains exit from the european union immigration income inequality and the rise of extremist ideologies european leaders have warned that foreign groups will use social media to manipulate public opinion facebook is becoming more aggressive in regulating content after initially trying to avoid entanglement in free speech issues last week it barred the conspiracy theorist alex jones and several other divisive figures from its platforms the company is also under pressure from regulators european leaders are considering new policies to force tech giants to rid their platforms of misinformation hate speech and extremist content facebook faces several investigations related to its handling of user data the election center in dublin will be open through this months vote data analysts content moderators engineers and attorneys from across facebook were flown in from around the world all 24 of the european unions official languages are represented inside the room employees many in jeans tshirts and hoodies appeared to be mostly in their 20s or