Facebook To Crackdown on Political Advertisements. For Real, This Time.

As the 2020 election looms, Facebook says it is tightening its rules for political advertisements. Critics say this song sounds familiar. Very Verified According to the New York Times, Facebook will strengthen how it verifies who is placing political advertisements. The social media company has previously introduced rules requiring advertisers to divulge their identities, and now those advertisers will have to prove they are registered with the United States government via an employer identification number, a Federal Election Commission identification number or in the case of smaller businesses, a verified phone number. Advertisers have until October to submit this information. Disinformation Society Facebook has been under scrutiny...for a lot of things, really, but in this case for its role in the spread of false news and political propaganda in the 2016 election, and maybe helping Russia to help get Donald Trump elected. It set up a “war room” to screen for fake news during the 2018 midterm elections and delete false accounts, but academic researchers recently examined the tool Facebook uses to screen political ads and deemed it “broken,” filled with bugs and technical issues. Dipayan Ghosh, a former privacy and public policy adviser at Facebook, called the steps “much too little, much too late.” Don’t Fake It Facebook shareholders have been consistently pressuring the company to do something about the spread of fake news, as it hurts the company’s image and, therefore, investors’ bottom line. Two years ago, Arjuna Capital and Baldwin Brothers presented a proposal to ask the company to take stronger action against fake news. Though the measure didn’t pass, shareholders have been keeping up the pressure. -Michael Tedder Photo by Charles Plateau/REUTERS Read More...