Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Social Media
  3. News

Facebook will now let users turn off political ads

By

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said his social media company is gearing up for the 2020 election by rolling out an option for users to turn off political ads and launching an initiative to increase voter turnout.

Recommended Videos

In an op-ed for USA Today, Zuckerberg said users will be able to switch off political ads, a tool it first introduced earlier this year in January.

Over the next few weeks, people will have the option to disable “all social issues, electoral or political ads from candidates, Super PACs, or other organizations that have the ‘Paid for by’ political disclaimer”. You will find this setting on the ad itself or inside any platform’s ad preferences.

Facebook is also launching a new Voting Information Center that will offer resources on when and how to vote, as well as updates from officials.

“With so much of our discourse taking place online, I believe platforms like Facebook can play a positive role in this election by helping Americans use their voice where it matters most — by voting. I believe Facebook has a responsibility not just to prevent voter suppression — which disproportionately targets people of color — but also to actively support well-informed voter engagement, registration, and turnout,” Zuckerburg wrote.

The social media company says it wants to help register four million voters this year — double from the estimated two million people it claims it guided in 2016 and 2018 — with “authoritative information” across its platforms including Messenger, Instagram, and Facebook.

The Voting Information Center, which will sit on top of users’ feeds, will be based on the same model Facebook designed for the COVID-19 Information Center. In addition to resources on registering to vote, mail-in ballots, and more, Facebook says it is working with state election officials and experts to include the latest local announcements.

In defense of his policy to not fact-check or verify political ads in any way, Zuckerburg continues to stick to its free expression argument and said he wants to keep the platform as open as possible to let voters make judgments for themselves.

“Accountability only works if we can see what those seeking our votes are saying, even if we viscerally dislike what they say,” he wrote. “Ultimately, I believe the best way to hold politicians accountable is through voting.”

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Shubham Agarwal
Shubham Agarwal
Journalist
Shubham Agarwal is a freelance technology journalist from Ahmedabad, India. His work has previously appeared in Firstpost…
Facebook seeks to protect election integrity with its new voting info hub
Trump with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg stylized image

Facebook’s information hub for voting resources, which it announced a few weeks ago, is now available in the United States. The social network wrote in a blog post that by offering quick access to accurate and authoritative voting information, it wants to help “protect the integrity of our elections” and “navigate a confusing election process.”

Both Instagram and Facebook users will soon find a link to the Voting Information Center in their accounts. Facebook, however, says it will also individually send notifications to inform people of voting age about the new feature.

Read more
Facebook says iOS 14’s new privacy tools could harm its ad business
apple ios 14 beta hands on review siri icon

Apple has made it even more difficult for developers to mine your data on iOS 14. One of the new additions prevents advertisers from covertly tracking you across nearly all apps and websites, and Facebook, for one, is not looking forward to it.

On Facebook’s second-quarter follow-up earnings call, David Wehner, the company’s chief financial officer, called the forthcoming update a “headwind” and said it will “make it harder for app developers and others to grow using ads on Facebook and, really, outside of Apple, to some extent.”

Read more
Facebook ad boycotters to Congress: Don’t let Zuckerberg off easy
mark zuckerberg thinking

The organizers of the #StopHateforProfit Facebook ad boycott have written a letter to the House Judiciary Committee asking the members to particularly press Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg about the company’s alleged monopoly over the advertising sphere.
First reported by Axios, the letter suggests several pointed questions that lawmakers could ask: For instance, what percentage of U.S. digital ad spending runs through Facebook and its subsidiaries, what this means for small and medium businesses, and whether there are any alternatives for advertisers to reach certain demographics with the power and efficiency that Facebook uses. The questions seem intended to get at whether Facebook is truly the monopoly it claims not to be.
In June, several hundred major brands, including Coca-Cola, Unilever, and Starbucks, signed on with activist groups led by Common Sense Media, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and the Anti-Defamation League to remove their ads from Facebook for the month of July. This was an attempt, the groups said, the put pressure on Facebook to change its policies about hate speech and misinformation.

However, Facebook has proven resilient against so many big advertisers leaving its platform. Although MarketWatch reported that its stock tanked briefly in June when the boycott was announced, total ad revenue has remained basically steady throughout the boycott, according to Forbes. The social media giant is set to publish its second-quarter earnings report on Thursday, which should show whether the boycott had any kind of major effect on Facebook's bottom line.

Read more