Facebook To Adjust Ad Policy In 2020
Recently, Facebook Inc revealed its limited changes to its approach to political ads.
The approach includes permitting users to turn off specific ad-targeting tools.
On the other side, it defied critics’ pleas that it bar politicians from using its ads system to circulate lies.
Meanwhile, the world’s most dominant social network has pledged to curb political manipulation on its platform.
The matter happened ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November 2020.
Facebook was unsuccessful in countering Russian interference in the 2016 election. Moreover, it has allowed the misuse of user data by obsolete political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.
Nowadays, it faces extreme criticism of its relatively hands-off ads policies. In particular, it exempted politicians’ ads from fact-checking standards pertained to other content.
Facebook indicated that its photo-sharing app Instagram will soon have an instrument permitting individual users to choose and see fewer political and social issue ads.
Moreover, it will make more ad audience data publicly accessible.
In contrast, Twitter Inc banned political ads in October, while Alphabet Inc’s Google stated it would stop allowing advertisers to target election ads using data.
The ads are about public voter records and general political relationships.
Online platforms Spotify, Pinterest, along with TikTok, have also announced bans.
Further Approach To Political Communications
A spokesman for the re-election promotion of President Donald Trump has spent more on Facebook ads than any other nominee.
The company said that the approach to political communications is better than those from Twitter and Google. It is as the messages “encourages more Americans to be involved in the process.”
A leading Democratic presidential candidate, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, criticized the company on Twitter.
The criticism was for “standing their ground on letting political figures lie to you.”
Warren has also called for Facebook’s collapse on antitrust grounds.
Meanwhile, Facebook’s director of product management Rob Leathern stated in a blog post that the firm reflected on imposing limits. Also, it is the same as Google’s.
However, the company decided against them. It was after internal data suggested most ads run by U.S. presidential candidates target audiences higher than 250,000 people.
Leathern, who wrote Facebook’s policies are founded “on the principle that people should be able to hear from those who wish to lead them, warts and all.”
Facebook declared it would roll out the extended audience data features in the first quarter of the year. It also plans to implement the political ads control beginning in the United States this summer.
In the long run, it will be expanding to this setting on more locations.
