Facebook says it will stop accepting new political ads a week before the US presidential election, as part of steps to protect against election interference

Striking a compromise to prevent election misinformation — Facebook will stop taking new political advertising in the United States …

The Verge 2020-09-04 Casey Newton

Context & Ripple Effects

The announcement turns two months of reporting into policy: Bloomberg reported in July that Facebook was weighing a pre-election political ad ban, and the company has now committed to a one-week blackout before November 3. It is a notable shift from January, when Facebook said it would not back down from allowing lies in political ads and would only offer users a control to see fewer political ads.

What makes the timing consequential is what happens on the other side of the blackout: Facebook has since confirmed campaigns can run ads again from November 4 — while votes are still being counted — and later added a separate suspension only after polls close.

First-order effects

US political campaigns lose the final week of paid reach on Facebook and Instagram, forcing them to front-load budgets into October or move that spend to platforms without an equivalent freeze.
Facebook accepts the revenue hit of a seven-day blackout rather than adjudicate last-minute claim-by-claim fact-checks under its January policy of tolerating lies in political ads.

Second-order effects

The November 4 resumption creates a window where campaigns can buy ads during vote counting — coverage flagged that this could let Trump run victory-claim ads before results are final, pressuring Facebook to layer on the post-polls-close suspension announced October 8.
Rival platforms face pressure to match or explain divergent blackout windows, since mismatched rules just relocate last-week political spend rather than eliminate it.

Third-order effects

Election-period speech rules are being set unilaterally by each platform with shifting start and end dates, making social networks de facto administrators of campaign advertising windows — a role likely to draw regulatory attention if the patchwork persists across future cycles.

The trend: Social platforms are improvising their own time-boxed election safeguards — ad blackouts, resumption dates, post-close suspensions — stepping into an election-infrastructure role that no regulator has yet defined for them.

Discussion

@zeynep Zeynep Tufekci on x
There are the details. And there is this: Mark Zuckerberg, alone, gets to set key rules—with significant consequences—for one of the most important elections in recent history. That should not be lost in the dust of who these changes will hurt or benefit. https://www.nytimes.com/…
@ekp Ellen K. Pao on x
Facebook is making superficial changes instead of addressing the core problem: an engagement engine that amplifies misinformation and hate for profit 1/ https://www.nytimes.com/...
@issielapowsky Issie Lapowsky on x
As a reporter, Facebook's ad policy is interesting. But as an American, Mark's whole post is terrifying. FB's a global company that's worked through elections in countries with no peaceful transfer of power. That feels like what they're preparing for here. https://www.facebook.co…
@kreissdaniel Daniel Kreiss on x
Some thoughts. First, no *new* ads (not a ban on ads) will likely mean campaigns will produce and run thousands of pieces of creative in the days before the cut off so they can run the final week. https://www.nytimes.com/...
@joshelman Josh Elman on x
This is a scary post from Zuckerberg and Facebook on what they are doing to try to preserve a fair election. It shows how much fear there is that there is a loss of central trust in the information we get from others and “official” sources. https://www.facebook.com/...
@ceciliakang Cecilia Kang on x
Reminder: Facebook allows politicians to lie in ads. That means any ads bought 1 week before the election won't be fact checked. FB says the library is the solution. Don't know if any average Fb user who checks the ad library
@carolecadwalla Carole Cadwalladr on x
It is a huge relief that Facebook is doing *something*. But it still needs to do so much more https://twitter.com/...
@alexisohanian @alexisohanian on x
We should be asking every social media platform hard questions about their plans for this Presidential election. https://twitter.com/...
@anandwrites Anand Giridharadas on x
If your ads are too dangerous a week before the election, your ads are also too dangerous now. https://twitter.com/...
@yaeleisenstat Yael Eisenstat on x
@sheeraf Right. Touting this as a good solution is ridiculous. And it's “both sides-ism” to apply these labels to everyone, with no fact check or differentiation. @kreissdaniel and I address this exact issue and better steps they could take in our paper : https://citap.unc.edu/..…
@shannimcg Shannon McGregor, PhD on x
One week before? Not after? In either case, this can and will be gamed by campaigns. And I'm not holding my breath here on enforcement. How many times has FB walked back a policy or enforcement because someone powerful cried foul? also 1/ https://twitter.com/...
@jessekblum Jesse Blumenthal on x
This is a bad decision by Facebook on two levels. 1) Substantively it's bad policy 2) As a PR move it doesn't mollify any of Facebook's critics. https://twitter.com/...
@jbillinson Josh Billinson on x
Not really sure this does much of anything when a record number of people are expected to have mailed in ballots well before that week! https://twitter.com/...
@sheeraf Sheera Frenkel on x
Looking at the label Facebook just put on Trump's misleading post about voting. Nothing about this label tells me that what Trump said is wrong. It actually looks like Facebook is building off Trump's post and sending users somewhere to register to vote. How is this helping? http…
@rbreich Robert Reich on x
Why not ban them now, 9 weeks before the election? https://www.cnbc.com/...
@wiczipedia Nina Jankowicz on x
@sheeraf Yes, exactly, and people who already think Facebook is part of the Deep State aren't going to click on the Voting Information Center link....
@goldman Jason Goldman on x
@MikeIsaac This isn't really labeling the post as misinformation. It looks like a “Would you like to know more”
@joshuakarp Joshua Karp on x
Banning ads is about PR, not solutions. If misinformation is bad in October, it's bad now and deserves solutions now. Banning political ads won't stop the organic hoaxes that go viral — but they will hurt insurgent & progressive candidates who depend on digital efforts. https://t…
@shannimcg Shannon McGregor, PhD on x
“Postelection, Facebook said it would quash any candidates' attempts at claiming false victories by redirecting users to accurate information on the results.” HOW will Facebook make these calls? Under their current policy, politicians can lie in ads. But not *these* lies? https:/…
@mlmillerphd Mike Miller, PhD on x
This is like smoking reds the whole year and then switching to lights the week before a marathon. https://twitter.com/...
@prof_mirya Mirya R. Holman on x
I'm going to NOT DRINK (port wine) the week before the election I will, however, be drinking whiskey every day https://twitter.com/...
@mikeisaac Rat King on x
the latest label, fwiw, updated earlier. I believe the first labels are applied via AI and later amended through teams that can apply more specific and relevant context https://twitter.com/...
@sifill_ldf Sherrilyn Ifill on x
Headlines on the Facebook announcement this morning focused solely on ads, when there's more to explore here.We need probing of what the “informational labels” will look like for voter fraud posts & for posts declaring victory before “final results.” https://about.fb.com/... http…
@marceelias Marc E. Elias on x
The President just committed a felony.👀 https://www.nbcnews.com/...
@ericgarland Eric Garland on x
“Baby, you just made me angry, that's all,” he intoned smoothly, “That's all in the past. I'm sorry. It'll never happen again.” https://twitter.com/...
@jason_kint Jason Kint on x
if Apple actually changed its timeline for iOS 14 changes to IDFA due to protests from adtech lobby / Facebook, it will damage the sincerity of APPL push for privacy and show susceptible to commercial interests and lobbying. See Microsoft and Mozilla 5yrs ago. @johnwilander https…
@paulg Paul Graham on x
“This election is not going to be business as usual. We all have a responsibility to protect our democracy.” Zuck on the steps Facebook is taking: https://www.facebook.com/...
@taraemcg Tara McGowan on x
If Facebook does this + continues to classify conservative media as verified news publishers-which gives them MORE access to Facebook's proprietary audiences without spending $1 on ads on the platform than other pages- they will have unapologetically handed this election to Trump…
@pinboard @pinboard on x
The Federal Election Commission doesn't have a quorum right now, but luckily we have Mark Zuckerberg to make ad hoc election spending rules on the fly https://twitter.com/...
@anthony Anthony DeRosa on x
Credit where credit is due, I do appreciate that Zuckerberg is getting ahead of the fact that it is extremely likely there is not a winner declared on election night and possibly not for days or weeks. The public needs to be prepared for this. https://twitter.com/...
@benyt Ben Smith on x
In the absence of regulation, Facebook is trying to kind of invent a government framework. Next comes the parliament: https://www.politico.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@stevekovach Steve Kovach on x
I see one potential good thing: Claims that you'll catch Covid-19 by voting will be removed. Other than that, this is Facebook doubling down on its existing policies that have already poisoned the platform. https://www.cnbc.com/...
@stevekovach Steve Kovach on x
-You'll still see political ads -Those ads can contain lies and false information. -Candidates will still be allowed to claim victory or cast doubt on election results, even if the results aren't in yet -80 million are expected to vote before election day And more... https://twit…
@jamesclayton5 James Clayton on x
Some big announcements made by Zuckerberg today on US elections: -Freeze new FB political ads 7 days before election -Stop mass forwarding of content on FB messenger -Attach warnings on posts that de-legitimatise the result (this could get messy) https://www.facebook.com/...
@donie Donie O'Sullivan on x
Politicians will still be able to pay Facebook millions to run false ads all the way through Election Day as long as they buy the ads before the final week of the campaign, Facebook announces. https://twitter.com/...
@benedictevans Benedict Evans on x
There are lots of things you can say about this, but the core, I think, is that we really don't know what we think about it. https://www.facebook.com/...
@just_jenna Jenna Lowenstein on x
Say it with me folks: the ads are not the problem! https://twitter.com/...
@public_citizen @public_citizen on x
Facebook, which refuses to restrict dishonest political ads, is expected to make $787,000,000 on political ads this election cycle. https://twitter.com/...
@vanitaguptacr Vanita Gupta on x
.@Facebook's announcements about policing voting misinformation, including by politicians, and defending a fair election are significant improvements & come after much pressure from civil rights community. But everything - any impact - rests on enforcement. We'll remain vigilant.…
@themusicpimp Alejandro Marin on x
A perfect definition of the expression “too little, too late” Facebook will stop accepting new political ads a week before the US presidential election - The Verge https://www.theverge.com/...
@carlquintanilla Carl Quintanilla on x
“If any candidate or campaign tries to declare victory before the final results are in, we'll add a label to their posts directing people to the official results from Reuters and the National Election Pool.” $FB https://twitter.com/...
@daniel_sweeney Dan Sweeney on x
It's a start, but Facebook's real problem is kinda like the punchline in that old horror story — the call is coming from inside the house! The problem is not chiefly the ads, the problem is hundreds of thousands of members in thousands of groups spreading poison and lies. https:/…
@travisakers Travis Akers on x
Facebook will block new political advertising the week before Election Day Facebook's move is intended to respond to criticism that it has failed to stop political misinformation from surging on its platform. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
@semperdiced DeMarcus on x
This is the equivalent of Romney's “yes” vote for the first article of impeachment—abuse of power—and “no” vote on the second charge—obstruction of Congress. It gives the appearence of doing the right thing—just enough to get some credit and a chance at plausible deniability. htt…
@digiphile Alex Howard on x
The Chairman of the @Facebook Election Commission announced new rules for the 2020 election, including a quiet period with no new political ads a week before Election Day: https://www.facebook.com/... @finkd signaled he is expecting a disputed result. https://twitter.com/...
@b_fung Brian Fung on x
Indeed, political ads containing lies that begin running on the platform *ahead of the blackout* will continue to be allowed, @donie says: https://www.cnn.com/...
@mosseri Adam Mosseri on x
Our teams at Instagram and Facebook are focused on protecting this election. That's why today we announced a series of changes that encourage voting, ensure people have accurate information about voting and reduce the chance of post-election uncertainty. https://about.fb.com/...
@pkafka Peter Kafka on x
Facebook says it won't take *new* political ads a week before the election - a move it has been mulling for months and months. https://about.fb.com/...
@mikeisaac Rat King on x
this stops short of some more drastic moves the company has discussed in recent months Facebook will resume letting people purchase political ads after Election Day. and existing ads from before the seven day period can still run and be adjusted for targeting and spend.
@facebook @facebook on x
This morning Mark announced our latest efforts related to the U.S. elections, which are designed to help encourage voting, ensure people have accurate info about voting, and help reduce confusion and post-election uncertainty: https://www.facebook.com/...
@lolgop @lolgop on x
You can always count on Facebook to do the equivalent of nothing. https://twitter.com/...
@twittersafety @twittersafety on x
We placed a public interest notice on two Tweets in this thread for violating our Civic Integrity Policy, specifically for encouraging people to potentially vote twice. https://twitter.com/...
@mikeisaac Rat King on x
just want to make clear that based on the rules mark zuckerberg shared literally hours ago, everything about Trumps post constitutes misinformation around voting and should be taken down. Instead they've applied a label to it. Why do these rules exist if they aren't followed? htt…
@annewheaton Anne Wheaton on x
We have such an incompetent president that Twitter has to let users know he is lying and encouraging a felony. Super. https://twitter.com/...
@parkermolloy Parker Molloy on x
Reminder that when Twitter does stuff like this, it's not “censoring” Trump in any way, but *actually* giving him preferential treatment by letting his tweets stay up that a regular person would have taken down. https://twitter.com/...
@carlquintanilla Carl Quintanilla on x
(NYT) - Less than 24 hours after President Trump suggested North Carolina voters attempt to vote twice to test if “their system's as good as they say it is,” Facebook said it would take down posts if users .. reposted them without proper context. $FB https://www.nytimes.com/...
@slpng_giants @slpng_giants on x
How is it that @facebook will remove the video but will only attach a weak sauce information link to this post?? https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@canadagraphs @canadagraphs on x
Sometimes Facebook gets it right. Not often enough, but sometimes. https://twitter.com/...
@owillis Oliver Willis on x
anyone else who breaks twitter rules this often gets thrown off the service https://twitter.com/...
@mattlynley Matthew Lynley on x
Good fucking god the gymnastics Facebook will execute to ensure this content remains up https://twitter.com/...
@mikeisaac Rat King on x
Facebook attaches a label on trump's latest post regarding mail in ballots that is a violation of the sites election misinformation policies https://www.facebook.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@hypervisible Doomscrolling Eternal on x
Guy who got his start making a misogynist website says he's got us covered on election night, if you are somehow still wondering how 2020 is going. https://www.wired.com/...
@theoddpantry Aneela Mirchandani on x
@MikeIsaac This label is slapped on every post that mentions voting, from anyone. Once again, Zuck weaseled out of what he promised to do.
@mikeisaac Rat King on x
so this seems to be not-static and changing based on the text/context, for what it's worth this is the latest label on the President's post, with more context around what the actual contention is https://twitter.com/...
@mikeisaac Rat King on x
this is actually kind of amazing if you label everything about voting, the warning language slides into meaninglessness. this was the exact strategy for many companies around GDPR. there are interaction designers inside the company that know this is rudimentary stuff... https://t…
@jrichlive Jeff Richards on x
Amazing. Basically “we acknowledge this is a massive honey pot used to manipulate elections, but there's not much we can do about it.” Frustrating. https://twitter.com/...
@megancgraham Meg Graham on x
Pinterest users will no longer see ads near content when they search for common elections-related terms like candidate names or “polling place.” (The platform has banned political ads since 2018, this is just the latest update) https://www.cnbc.com/...
@mollywood Molly Wood on x
I'm gonna go ahead and say we're all kind of over the mini-measures. “The announcement wasn't just a poorly executed PR stunt from Facebook, it's a doubling down of the policies that have allowed a poisoning of the platform for years.” https://www.cnbc.com/...
@alexstamos Alex Stamos on x
As I have said before, any limits on online political ads are generally going to benefit incumbents with large organic reach and PACs with the money to afford TV. The new FB limit is interesting, but what we really need is more specific policies on false claims about results. htt…
@alexstamos Alex Stamos on x
The other benefit incumbents get is that their statements are covered as news. This Washington Post headline is as ineffective as Facebook's current “Voting Information Center” tag. Both companies have the 1st Amend right to clearly say “this is false”. https://twitter.com/...
@alexstamos Alex Stamos on x
I expect that Facebook's compromise of allowing ads but giving themselves time to review was negotiated with key Democrats to allow for GOTV. It will be interesting to see what we hear from them. Our @2020Partnership post on policy weaknesses: https://www.eipartnership.net/ ...
@mattrosoff Matt Rosoff on x
“Thursday's announcement isn't just a poorly executed PR stunt from Facebook, it's a doubling down of the controversial policies that have allowed a poisoning of the platform for years.” ⁦@stevekovach⁩ brings the 🔥🔥🔥 https://www.cnbc.com/...
@jmgrygiel @jmgrygiel on x
Facebook should be partnering w you re the coronavirus too instead of just directing US-based users to the CDC which is under political influence. We need an intervention here in the interest of public healthy and safety. Please help if you can. https://twitter.com/...
@toddzwillich Todd Zwillich on x
Zuckerberg: “If any candidate or campaign tries to declare victory before the results are in, we'll add a label to their post educating that official results are not yet in and directing people to the official results.” https://twitter.com/...
@ericdanetz Eric Danetz on x
Glad to announce that the @Reuters team will be partnering with @Facebook to deliver live #USElection night results. This partnership is a push to provide users with authoritative information in real time, while ensuring the accuracy of the news. https://www.reuters.com/...
@b_fung Brian Fung on x
One of the limits of Facebook's voting information center is that it's designed to be a catch-all hub. So when users see a questionable claim (say, about voting twice) and click through to the info center, there's nothing there that's responsive to the specific claim. https://twi…
@ewarren Elizabeth Warren on x
Not enough. Facebook has repeatedly fumbled its responsibility to protect our democracy. Now the stakes are higher than ever—and they need to do more than make small, performative tweaks. https://www.nytimes.com/...
@tomhreynolds Tom Reynolds on x
@MikeIsaac Here is one of the new labels we are rolling out, per our announcement today. This is live. https://twitter.com/...
@mikeisaac Rat King on x
NEW: Facebook to bar new political ad buys seven days before the election — part of a slate of changes to clamp down on confusion and disinformation heading into election day https://www.nytimes.com/...
@markscott82 Mark Scott on x
.@Facebook published new rules on countering misinformation ahead of US election, including a ban on new political ads in the week before the vote. Reminder — Congress *could* have done something about this, and they didn't. Can't blame FB for politicians not doing their job
@cfiesler @cfiesler on x
Seems like a big distinction to me that FB is just banning NEW political ads. A campaign could in theory purchase new ads 8 days before the election and also increase the $ spent on them on election day so that they're more visible. Ethics theater. https://www.nytimes.com/... htt…
@alexvoica Alexandru Voica on x
Today, @Messenger is announcing message forwarding limits, a new feature designed to protect people from viral misinfo and harmful content. With forwarding limits, a sender will be able to forward a message to up to five people or groups at a time: https://messengernews.fb.com/ .…
@jason_kint Jason Kint on x
Yes, it's a positive move. But remember: - microtargeted political ads are problem and FB's entire biz model - Twitter banned all political ads (avoiding biz model debate) - Google banned all microtargeted political ads FB is making change for final week only. Only Facebook... ht…
@torstenkathke Torsten Kathke on x
If you'd told me this in 2010, I would have had no conception of how this could become possible. How did we get here? https://twitter.com/...
@repspeier Jackie Speier on x
A step forward, but what about political ad campaigns already pumping out false info; algorithms that amplify lies, violence & misogyny; the refusal to fact check ads or take down distorted videos; & Facebook groups that become echo chambers for false info? Facebook MUST do more!…
@nickconfessore Nick Confessore on x
Facebook in effect “both sidesing” the behavior of politicians on its platform with this pre-election ban. https://www.nytimes.com/...
@cruickshank @cruickshank on x
This is the core of the problem. Zuckerberg has too much power, Facebook is too big, and he is going to use that power to favor Trump. We have to break up Facebook. https://twitter.com/...
@rashadrobinson Rashad Robinson on x
Facebook's new election policy is a step in the right direction. But political ads are not the only problem. Facebook AND Congress must address misinformation shared in posts (including the president's), fire policy chief Joel Kaplan & limit Zuckerberg's power over our democracy.…
@marietjeschaake Marietje Schaake on x
Do we trust the butcher to test their own meat....? Exactly ↘️ https://twitter.com/...
@b_fung Brian Fung on x
Trump: Hey everyone, vote twice! Everyone: Are we really supposed to do that? Facebook: Here's how to register! Also, did you know you can vote by mail? https://twitter.com/...
@timcast Tim Pool on x
I, like many Americans, have been begging for a Technocratic corporate quasi-government to rule over us and decide what people are allowed to see and hear https://twitter.com/...
@alexstamos Alex Stamos on x
I see we are once again in a cycle of snarky one-liners replacing any thoughtful nuance on how we should regulate political speech in a democracy, even from professional pundits and journalists. @zeynep, as usual, is right on the meta-issue of power: https://twitter.com/...
@moonalice Roger McNamee on x
I wish I shared @nytimes' confidence in FB's good faith re: election policies. Apparently NYT does not keep score. “Thursday's changes, which are a tacit acknowledgment by Facebook of how powerful its effect on public discourse can be, are unlikely to satisfy its critics.” https:…
@evelyndouek Evelyn Douek on x
Don't sleep on this announcement: content-neutral design choices platforms make, like this one, can make a real difference. Fb said that a similar limit on WhatsApp cut the spread of viral msgs by 70%. 70%!!!!! Not all of it would be misinfo but still (https://techcrunch.com/...)…
@mattyglesias Matthew Yglesias on x
I wrote and deleted so many takes on this Facebook decision, and this one is a lot better than anything I could come up with —> https://twitter.com/...
@alexvoica @alexvoica on x
We feel this is an important step to ensure people who use @Messenger are kept safe from online harm. This feature is currently available in several countries and will eventually be available to all users globally starting September 24: https://messengernews.fb.com/ ... https://t…
@aimeepearcy_ Aimee Pearcy on x
This isn't going to do anything and Facebook knows it. It's not about stopping misinformation, it's about PR. https://twitter.com/...
@joshuatalley Joshua Talley on x
Finally. My messenger notifications had me feeling like the old days of chain emails sometimes. https://thetruetruetruth.com/ https://twitter.com/...
@aaronhuertas Aaron Huertas on x
“Postelection, Facebook said it would quash any candidates' attempts at claiming false victories by redirecting users to accurate information on the results.” https://www.nytimes.com/...
@scottbix Scott Bixby on x
As everyone knows, disinformation campaigns are like basketball games, in that nothing actually matters until the final three minutes of the fourth quarter. https://www.nytimes.com/...
@maya206 Maya Mirchandani on x
#Facebook decides to limit #USElections2020 ads a week before Election Day. Given the number of Americans planning to vote early, will one week be enough? https://www.nytimes.com/...
@jkelly3rd John Kelly on x
A larger number of people than ever before will already have voted by then, so ... https://www.nytimes.com/...
@justinhendrix Justin Hendrix on x
Facebook announces moves to protect election: • bar new political ads in the week before election • strengthen measures against posts that dissuade people from voting. • quash claims of false victories by redirecting users to accurate info on results. https://www.nytimes.com/...

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