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Facebook may suspend all political ads before 2020 election

By Meira Gebel July 10, 2020

Facebook is contemplating suspending all political advertising on its social media platform ahead of the U.S. presidential election this fall, according to Bloomberg.

The ban on political ads is currently being “discussed” and has not yet been finalized, according to the report, but sources told Bloomberg that the move is in response to the spread of misinformation and voter suppression on the platform.

Digital Trends did not immediately receive a response from Facebook regarding whether or not the company is considering suspending political ads. We will update this story when we hear back.

Facebook has come under immense fire in recent weeks following public criticism — from users, it own employees, and advertisers — of its misinformation and content policies.

In June, a boycott that has grown to include hundreds of companies was organized by such major civil rights groups as the NAACP. Companies vowed not to advertise with Facebook for the month of July, until the platform took action on hate speech and targeted harassment.

Political campaigns often spend hefty amounts on Facebook, and have been the preferred medium of disseminating election information for government officials — whether that information is factually correct or not. President Donald Trump has historically been Facebook’s biggest spender, shelling out $2.2 million in just one week last month, but was recently topped by Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, who spent $5 million over the course of just a few days.

Facebook has also made it a policy to not fact check political ads — which critics have called dangerous.

According to Bloomberg’s report Friday, the potential freeze on political ads will not affect the platform’s “get out the vote” campaign.

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Meira Gebel is a freelance reporter based in Portland. She writes about tech, social media, and internet culture for Digital…

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