Facebook Takes Action

Facebook is a never ending source of information, posts, and entertainment.  1.62 billion users visit the platform every day, while the reach on Facebook for advertisers is higher than ever before.  Advertising prices have been continuously dropping, while the amount of possible impressions is rapidly increasing.  The number of advertisers using the platform has only grown.  The only problem?  Some of them are trying to skew the US election.

In order to address this, Facebook recently announced that they would be attempting to block political candidates from posting ads declaring victory, at least until after the election results are in.

This comes after Facebook announced they would be focusing on controlling misinformation regarding the U.S. election this year.  

Facebook also plans to be fact-checking the material of such ads, going as far as banning any new political ads the week before the election, citing a lack of time for review. 

In addition, Facebook will be banning any ads that question or delegitimize the US electoral process.

While this move is welcomed by many, the vice president of global affairs at Facebook did not accept pressure to ban all political ads leading up to the election.  He cited democracy as his reason, explaining that it is not wrong to have political ads on the platform. It is only those riddled with false information and bad intentions that will get the boot.  

This is a major step in the control of misinformation that has the strong possibility of affecting many user’s views on the election.  It is our hope that Facebook will continue to crack down on the spread of fake news, misleading ads, and false information.  Do you think this will be enough?  Let us know on Instagram at @TXADPR!