Facebook to require buyers of political ads to provide more information about who paid for them

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Washington Post

Facebook on Wednesday announced it would tighten some of its rules around political advertising ahead of the 2020 presidential election, requiring those who purchase ads touting candidates or promoting hot-button issues to provide more information about who actually paid for them. The changes seek to address a number of well-documented incidents where users placed misleading or inaccurate disclaimers on ads, effectively undermining a system for election transparency that the tech giant built after Russian agents spread disinformation on the site during the 2016 race.

Facebook already requires that political advertisers verify their identities. Starting in September, though, the company will require buyers of so-called issue ads or advocates of a political candidate to include information about who is funding the ads. To satisfy Facebook’s new requirements, a business can submit their tax-identification number, or campaigns can share their own registration data from the Federal Election Commission, and Facebook will label them as a “confirmed organization” in its archive. But Facebook won’t require advocacy organizations to submit more detailed information about their donors, meaning that Facebook users who want to learn more about an unfamiliar-sounding group must rely on the government, which hasn’t updated its campaign-finance laws in decades.

Katie Harbath, a public policy director at Facebook, said it would be difficult for the company to verify this information because it does not “have any power under penalty of law to do that.” She said Facebook as a result is “pushing for more [government] regulation in this space.” “We're trying to do as much as Facebook can do,” she said in an interview.

Facebook also said it was changing its policy toward ads about hot-button issues such as immigration, gun control and climate change. The company’s requirements around these ads had been unclear, Harbath said, resulting in nonpolitical issues like recycling being swept up in Facebook’s database. Facebook also said it would more aggressively monitor for, and remove, ads that seek to suppress voting. While Facebook took action against such content during last year’s mid-term elections, Harbath said the company hadn’t had until now an explicit policy against ads encouraging people not to vote.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/08/28/facebook-require-political-campaigns-say-who-paid-their-ads-new-transparency-push/

[BigmanPigman]

1. They should've done this years and years ago!

No kudos from me, Fuckerberg.

[Roy Rolling]

2. Their Bullshit: "we are not a media company"

They are as culpable as Russia and Trump for the 2016 propaganda victory of Russia.

[dalton99a]

3. Good plan, now that Republicans have killed the Federal Election Commission

Fuck Zuckerberg

[PSPS]

4. Another zuckerberg lie. They regularly say things like this but never actually follow through.

Facebook Ads Are Creating a "Huge Problem" in Washington State Elections
by Eli Sanders • Jul 24, 2019 at 12:45 pm

Eight months ago, Facebook announced it was banning all political ads targeting local elections in Washington state.

Four months ago, after it became clear the company was still selling such ads, Facebook told state election regulators that it was working to improve enforcement of its ban.

Yet as of today, Facebook has sold hundreds of local political ads targeting this state's elections since the beginning of 2019, all in violation of its own ban—including well over $50,000 worth of recent ads targeting current city council races in Seattle.

Less than two weeks out from statewide primary elections, with ballots already mailed and campaigns in the final primary stretch, election regulators in Seattle and Olympia say Facebook's inability to enforce its own ad rules—rules that Facebook itself implemented in an attempt to avoid tough political ad disclosure requirements—has created a climate of general bafflement, as well as a number of complaints.

"What is going on at Facebook headquarters?” asked Wayne Barnett, executive director of the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission. "I mean, they’ve enunciated this as a policy, but it doesn’t appear that there’s any resources being devoted to enforcing the policy."

https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2019/07/24/40834105/facebook-ads-are-creating-a-huge-problem-in-washington-state-elections

[Thekaspervote]

5. I refuse to use FB... wish more would do the same.

I here the excuse “that’s how I keep up with family and friends.” There are tons of other social networking platforms to do the same.

Dump FB!!!