UPDATED 21:59 EDT / NOVEMBER 11 2020

POLICY

Facebook and Google extend political ad ban as Trump refuses to accept defeat

Facebook Inc. announced today that its ban on political ads will stand, a move the company said will prevent the spread of misinformation.

Facebook said in a blog post that since U.S. election results are taking longer this time because of the Covid-19 pandemic and massive mail-in votes, it has introduced some policies to prevent confusion and abuse.

“The temporary pause for ads about politics and social issues in the U.S. continues to be in place as part of our ongoing efforts to protect the election,” Facebook said. “Advertisers can expect this to last another month, though there may be an opportunity to resume these ads sooner.”

The company said it will also continue asking people to visit the “Voting Information Center” when looking at posts about the election. The company added that after the polls close there will be notifications at the top of Facebook and Instagram with information relating to the election.

On Monday, Joe Biden’s head of press, Bill Russo, aired his concerns about Facebook’s handling of the election in a dramatic manner. Russo posted tweets accusing Facebook of not doing enough to take down content calling for acts of violence and allowing the “Stop the Steal” campaign to gain traction.

“If you thought disinformation on Facebook was a problem during our election, just wait until you see how it is shredding the fabric of our democracy in the days after,” said Russo. He also vented about Facebook not suppressing Breitbart posts talking about voting corruption.

Facebook, meanwhile, seems to think it’s done a pretty good job of dealing with election chaos. “We built the largest third-party fact-checking network of any platform and they remain actively focused on claims about the election, including conspiracy theories,” the company said. “We changed our products to ensure fewer people see false information and are made aware of it when they do, and highlighted reliable election information where nearly everyone on Facebook and Instagram saw that Vice President Biden was the projected winner of the U.S. election.”

Google LLC said in September that it would impose a ban on political ads, although the company said it would review that decision down the road. According to the Financial Times, which reached out to Google, that ban remains in place. The company didn’t say any more than that.

Photo: Phil Roeder/Flickr

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