Facebook to allow influencers to produce sponsored content for US politicians and political campaigns, if the posts are clearly identified as paid partnerships
and that system has always been completely broken.” https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ... Rob Price / @robaeprice : In October 2019, Facebook employees raised concerns internally that ordinary users wouldn't be able to understand its policies on fact-checking political ads. FB's recent sponcon decisions risk muddying the waters even more. https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/... Katie Notopoulos / @katienotopoulos : An A+ idea for Facebook is to allow a form of of political advertising it has zero oversight over, is notoriously rife with bad actors and deceptive practices, and the general audience isn't able to identify if something is an ad of not. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ... Katie Notopoulos / @katienotopoulos : Instagram has never taken accountability for the fact that influencers aren't properly disclosing ads, and most users can't accurately identify what's an ad or not (I can't!). So how the hell are they going to handle political ads? https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ... Ryan Broderick / @broderick : Facebook said it's not putting politically sponsored posts created by influencers in their public ad library. They also wouldn't answer my questions about whether influencers posts will be exempt from fact-checking the way normal political ads are. 🙃 https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ... https://twitter.com/... Elizabeth Warren / @ewarren : Refusing to catalogue paid political ads because the Bloomberg campaign found a workaround means there will be less transparency for the content he is paying to promote. Mike Bloomberg cannot be allowed to buy an election with zero accountability. https://www.theverge.com/... @dellcam : Reads to me as another decision by Facebook to avoid pissing off politicians who'll pay to lie directly to its users. It's purposely establishing itself as a disinformation channel b/c FB sees it as the future of political advertising & thinks no one will demand honest ads. https://twitter.com/... Ben Collins / @oneunderscore__ : Filed under “things that don't make any sense because they were never supposed to make sense.” https://twitter.com/... Brandy Zadrozny / @brandyzadrozny : I've read this three times and friends, I still don't get it. https://twitter.com/... Taylor Lorenz / @taylorlorenz : Instagram is updating its processes after Bloomberg's meme influencer blitz (FB statement from a spokesperson below). Influencers doing sponcon for campaigns will now have to: 1. Use Insta's authorized branded content tool 2. Must be working w/ an authorized political advertiser https://twitter.com/... Evelyn Douek / @evelyndouek : Honestly, I suspect there's no one in the world that wants the Oversight Board up and running faster than the ad policy team at Facebook right now... https://twitter.com/... Sofia Diogo Mateus / @sofiadmateus : Kafkasque policy relating political ads from Facebook. So: - If a politician speaks directly via an influencer account, it won't be fact-checked. - If the influencer wrote it themselves though, it's fact-checked. Which means we check influencers more than politicians. https://twitter.com/... Bill Russo / @billr : Politician: Can I pay you to lie for me? Influencer: Sure! Politician: But will the lie get called out? Facebook: Nah. Politician: Oh, but we have to put the ad in the library so people know it is an ad? Facebook: Nah. Politician: 🤑 https://twitter.com/... Josh Russell / @josh_emerson : How many influencers are accepting rubles this election season? 😃 https://twitter.com/... Stacy-Marie Ishmael / @s_m_i : Every presidential election since 2012 has been BuzzFeed News' election to own coverage of, but 2020 seems designed specifically for them https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ... Mike Elgan / @mikeelgan : Translation: Bloombucks welcome here! https://twitter.com/... Alex Howard / @digiphile : If the 115th Congress had enacted the Honest Ads Act & the @POTUS had appointed a new commissioners to @FEC, we'd now have a level playing field for online political ads + standards for disclosures & disclaimers: https://sunlightfoundation.com/ ... Instead, self-regulation yields this: https://twitter.com/... @ownyourdatanow : Yes @Facebook has too much power. Now, a loophole for paid influencers to not label content as advertising. On Thursday, the FTC announced that it would be seeking public comment on whether it should review rules & inflict harsher penalties for mislabeling content. It should. https://twitter.com/... Catalin Cimpanu / @campuscodi : Facebook + election meddling = ♥️ This company just can't stop itself, can it? https://twitter.com/... Sarah Frier / @sarahfrier : The intersection of politics, ads and Facebook policies is now so complicated that the public has to understand the difference between organic and sponcon, disclosed sponcon and properly disclosed sponcon, political ads that go in the archive and don't, are fact-checked and not. https://twitter.com/... Renee DiResta / @noupside : Yet another convoluted set of rules related to Facebook's politican-speech carve-out. It conflicts with, and undermines, other solid policies. https://twitter.com/... @qjurecic : Facebook developing US election “law” in real time https://twitter.com/... Brian Feldman / @bafeldman : 600 policy guys at facebook LARPing as decision-makers using their big rubber APPROVED stamp on gibberish like this https://twitter.com/... @rmac18 : This is an absolutely clear policy that I'm sure Facebook's moderators will completely understand and have no problem implementing yes sir https://twitter.com/... Paul Blumenthal / @paulblu : Political sponcon evades disclosure https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ... Julia Reinstein / @juliareinstein : I can never get over how deeply unprepared tech platforms are for dealing with elections https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ... Drew Olanoff / @yoda : i mean if people base their voting preference on this circle jerk then whatever https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ... Ben Collins / @oneunderscore__ : I cannot stress enough how intentionally vague and haphazardly enforced these policies are. https://twitter.com/... @slpng_giants : We are entrusting truth and democracy to @facebook, who has earned zero public trust when it comes to everything from their role in Cambridge Analytica to making Breitbart a “trusted” news source. Their only goal is money. No other rules apply. https://twitter.com/... Kevin Roose / @kevinroose : A model of clarity, really https://twitter.com/... Makena Kelly / @kellymakena : NEW: Facebook will allow influencers to partner with political campaigns for sponsored posts. There weren't any rules on this, because it wasn't really a thing until Michael Bloomberg started posting cringe. More here: https://www.theverge.com/... Makena Kelly / @kellymakena : Elizabeth Warren responds to Facebook's decision to allow paid political sponsorships: https://twitter.com/... Katie Notopoulos / @katienotopoulos : I can't really get over how much this assumes that the average Instagram user is able to tell the difference between a sponsored post or not - something I've written about for YEARS about that even really savvy internet users cannot tell https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ... Roger McNamee / @moonalice : Hypothesis: Facebook has too much power over our democracy. https://twitter.com/... Dave Smith / @redletterdave : billionaires and special treatment, name a more iconic duo https://twitter.com/... Makena Kelly / @kellymakena : Another important thing: These sponsored posts won't be filed n Facebook's political Ad Library unless the poster pays to boost them. https://www.theverge.com/... Hamza Shaban / @hshaban : Posts that are created by influencers who are paid to create sponsored content will not be placed in Facebook's political Ad Library, @kellymakena reports - one exception is that they will be put in the Library if the creator pays to boost their posts https://www.theverge.com/... Taylor Lorenz / @taylorlorenz : Because the posts from influencers are branded content, not traditional ads run through FB's ad platform, Sponsored political content will not be placed in Facebook's political Ad Library unless the creator pays to boost their posts. Dieter Bohn / @backlon : Sponsored posts are not advertising but they DEFINITELY CONTAIN ADVERTISING. The FTC understands this but Facebook does not. https://twitter.com/... Taylor Lorenz / @taylorlorenz : Facebook has also been in touch with the creators who are part of Meme 2020's efforts for the Bloomberg campaign and they're all going to retroactively update their posts to apply the correct branded content tags, which make it clear that its paid See also Mediagazer
Got an update from Facebook: They will tell third-party fact-checkers that if the speech in the sponcon is from the politician paying for the content, it won't be fact-checked. But if the speech is in the voice of the influencer who made it, it will be. https://www.buzzfeednews.c…
This is basically the reverse of most journalism, no? If you're a public figure running for office, you get held to a *lower standard* than some schmo? https://twitter.com/...
Sen. Warren highlights the new political advertising loophole on Facebook, as reported by the Verge. Has anyone offered any explanation as to how “branded content” aka paying people to post things on Facebook's platforms, is different from advertising? https://twitter.com/...
We agree that there's a place for a broad range of branded content on our platforms. We've updated our policies and will allow authorized political advertisers in the US to run this content so long as creators are transparent and disclose through our branded content tools https:/…
“Allowing political candidates to use influencer marketing on Instagram requires a lot of trust in the way that influencer marketing works — and that system has always been completely broken.” https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ...
In October 2019, Facebook employees raised concerns internally that ordinary users wouldn't be able to understand its policies on fact-checking political ads. FB's recent sponcon decisions risk muddying the waters even more. https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...
An A+ idea for Facebook is to allow a form of of political advertising it has zero oversight over, is notoriously rife with bad actors and deceptive practices, and the general audience isn't able to identify if something is an ad of not. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ...
Instagram has never taken accountability for the fact that influencers aren't properly disclosing ads, and most users can't accurately identify what's an ad or not (I can't!). So how the hell are they going to handle political ads? https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ...
Facebook said it's not putting politically sponsored posts created by influencers in their public ad library. They also wouldn't answer my questions about whether influencers posts will be exempt from fact-checking the way normal political ads are. 🙃 https://www.buzzfeednews.com/…
Refusing to catalogue paid political ads because the Bloomberg campaign found a workaround means there will be less transparency for the content he is paying to promote. Mike Bloomberg cannot be allowed to buy an election with zero accountability. https://www.theverge.com/...
Reads to me as another decision by Facebook to avoid pissing off politicians who'll pay to lie directly to its users. It's purposely establishing itself as a disinformation channel b/c FB sees it as the future of political advertising & thinks no one will demand honest ads. https…
Instagram is updating its processes after Bloomberg's meme influencer blitz (FB statement from a spokesperson below). Influencers doing sponcon for campaigns will now have to: 1. Use Insta's authorized branded content tool 2. Must be working w/ an authorized political advertiser …
Honestly, I suspect there's no one in the world that wants the Oversight Board up and running faster than the ad policy team at Facebook right now... https://twitter.com/...
Kafkasque policy relating political ads from Facebook. So: - If a politician speaks directly via an influencer account, it won't be fact-checked. - If the influencer wrote it themselves though, it's fact-checked. Which means we check influencers more than politicians. https://twi…
Politician: Can I pay you to lie for me? Influencer: Sure! Politician: But will the lie get called out? Facebook: Nah. Politician: Oh, but we have to put the ad in the library so people know it is an ad? Facebook: Nah. Politician: 🤑 https://twitter.com/...
Every presidential election since 2012 has been BuzzFeed News' election to own coverage of, but 2020 seems designed specifically for them https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ...
If the 115th Congress had enacted the Honest Ads Act & the @POTUS had appointed a new commissioners to @FEC, we'd now have a level playing field for online political ads + standards for disclosures & disclaimers: https://sunlightfoundation.com/ ... Instead, self-regulation yields…
Yes @Facebook has too much power. Now, a loophole for paid influencers to not label content as advertising. On Thursday, the FTC announced that it would be seeking public comment on whether it should review rules & inflict harsher penalties for mislabeling content. It should. htt…
The intersection of politics, ads and Facebook policies is now so complicated that the public has to understand the difference between organic and sponcon, disclosed sponcon and properly disclosed sponcon, political ads that go in the archive and don't, are fact-checked and not. …
Yet another convoluted set of rules related to Facebook's politican-speech carve-out. It conflicts with, and undermines, other solid policies. https://twitter.com/...
This is an absolutely clear policy that I'm sure Facebook's moderators will completely understand and have no problem implementing yes sir https://twitter.com/...
We are entrusting truth and democracy to @facebook, who has earned zero public trust when it comes to everything from their role in Cambridge Analytica to making Breitbart a “trusted” news source. Their only goal is money. No other rules apply. https://twitter.com/...
NEW: Facebook will allow influencers to partner with political campaigns for sponsored posts. There weren't any rules on this, because it wasn't really a thing until Michael Bloomberg started posting cringe. More here: https://www.theverge.com/...
I can't really get over how much this assumes that the average Instagram user is able to tell the difference between a sponsored post or not - something I've written about for YEARS about that even really savvy internet users cannot tell https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ...
Another important thing: These sponsored posts won't be filed n Facebook's political Ad Library unless the poster pays to boost them. https://www.theverge.com/...
Posts that are created by influencers who are paid to create sponsored content will not be placed in Facebook's political Ad Library, @kellymakena reports - one exception is that they will be put in the Library if the creator pays to boost their posts https://www.theverge.com/...
Because the posts from influencers are branded content, not traditional ads run through FB's ad platform, Sponsored political content will not be placed in Facebook's political Ad Library unless the creator pays to boost their posts.
Facebook has also been in touch with the creators who are part of Meme 2020's efforts for the Bloomberg campaign and they're all going to retroactively update their posts to apply the correct branded content tags, which make it clear that its paid