Facebook to temporarily ban all political, electoral and social ads in US after election night to 'reduce abuse'
Facebook, which has gone through a sour experience in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica (CA) data scandal a few years ago, is more cautious ahead of the November 3 presidential election. The social media giant has announced that it will stop running political ads in America once the curtains are drawn over the procedure on Election Day. The ban will be a temporary one.
On Wednesday, October 7, Guy Rosen, Facebook’s vice president of integrity, said in a blog post: “[W]hile ads are an important way to express voice, we plan to temporarily stop running all social issue, electoral, or political ads in the U.S. after the polls close on November 3, to reduce opportunities for confusion or abuse. We will notify advertisers when this policy is lifted.”
The upcoming election has faced a massive threat because of misinformation and sinister efforts to influence its results – all the more reasons why Facebook has made the move to avoid becoming a tool for manipulating the election. The social media giant has also said that it would remove all posts that ask people to tune into the elections but with intimidating language.
According to Facebook, even President Donald Trump is not exempted from its rule, Daily Mail reported. Facebook initially did not filter Trump’s posts on its wall but after a backlash that it faced from his opponents as well as its own employees -- current and former -- it decided to change its stance. Recently, Facebook removed a post made by the president in which he claimed coronavirus to be less lethal than flu.
Facebook's stance on political affairs has changed fast
Facebook’s announcement on temporarily banning ads has surprised many. According to a report in POLITICO, the social media giant has for long taken a hands-off approach to political ads with its vice president for global affairs and communications, Nick Clegg -- who is also a former deputy PM of the UK, saying last year that the company should not be policing politicians’ words.
However, changes in its stance were seen last month when it said that it would prevent new political and issue ads from running a week before Election Day. The move, which was announced by none other than CEO Mark Zuckerberg, came amid Trump’s claims that the upcoming election will be “rigged”, thanks to the growing popularity of the mail-on balloting. Zuckerberg said on the occasion that the company planned to make no further changes to its poll-related policies for the 2020 show, stressing on the need “to ensure there are clear and consistent rules”. The move was slammed both by Trump's campaign and the liberals.
According to POLITICO, Facebook insiders have admitted that they have been rattled by the fever-pitch of the upcoming election and are deeply worried to protect the company’s battered reputation as well as the American democracy as a whole.
But the move is still not giving Facebook a chance to feel easy. Though it is aimed to protect the social media giant from allegations that it is repeating its errors of 2016 when it allowed Russian elements and others to make use of its platform to create a ruckus in the contest between Trump and Hillary Clinton, critics are still of the opinion that Facebook is bringing in the changes far too late. The decision to temporarily ban the ads will also hit the candidates and their campaigns, advocacy groups and political advisertisers who rely heavily on Facebool ads as a potent political tool.
In September, Google said it will not publish political ads after polls close on November 3. The policy is part of an effort to curb confusion if the results are not known immediately after the elections. Twitter, on the other hand, is also against running political ads after deciding to do away with them worldwide late last year.
However, Facebook’s latest decision could be too late for the current election cycle since many people are already casting early ballots.