Facebook considering political-ad ban ahead of US election: Sources

SAN FRANCISCO • Facebook is considering imposing a ban on political ads on its social network in the days leading up to the US election in November, according to people familiar with the company's thinking.

The potential ban is still only being discussed and has not yet been finalised, said the people, who asked not to be named talking about internal policies.

A halt on ads could defend against misleading election-related content spreading as people prepare to vote.

Still, there are concerns that an ad blackout might hurt "get out the vote" campaigns, or limit a candidate's ability to respond widely to breaking news or new information.

This would be a big change for Facebook, which has so far stuck to a policy of not fact-checking ads from politicians or their campaigns.

That has prompted criticism from lawmakers and advocates, who say that the policy means ads on the platform can be used to spread lies and misinformation.

Civil rights groups also argue that the company does not do enough to remove efforts to limit voter participation, and a recent audit found that Facebook failed to enforce its own voter-suppression policies when it comes to posts from United States President Donald Trump.

Hundreds of advertisers are currently boycotting Facebook's marketing products as part of a protest against its policies.

Ad blackouts before elections are common in other parts of the world, including Britain, where Facebook's global head of policy, Mr Nick Clegg, was once deputy prime minister. A Facebook spokesman declined to comment.

Facebook is an important platform for politicians, especially at a time when many are stuck at home and campaign rallies pose potential health risks due to the coronavirus.

In 2016, Mr Trump used Facebook ads and the firm's targeting capabilities to reach millions of voters with tailored messaging, a strategy that some believe helped win him the election.

Mr Alex Stamos, a former top security executive at Facebook, said on Friday that any political ad ban could benefit Mr Trump.

"Eliminating online political ads only benefits those with money, incumbency or the ability to get media coverage," he tweeted. "Who does that sound like?"

Democratic political operatives were quick to criticise the idea of a temporary ad blackout.

Mr Rob Flaherty, digital director for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden's campaign, said the potential ad ban was not a sufficient solution to misinformation.

"Under this proposal, the President could use organic posts to suppress voting by mail, but Democrats could not run ads encouraging people to return their mail ballots," he tweeted.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Sunday Times on July 12, 2020, with the headline Facebook considering political-ad ban ahead of US election: Sources. Subscribe