New Facebook and Instagram Options Let US Users Turn Off Political Ads

[MacRumors]

Facebook is adding the option for users to turn off all political advertising in the Facebook and Instagram apps from today, the company has announced in a blog post.

The option will pop up for users directly on any political ad that appears on the two Facebook-owned platforms. Users will also be able to hide ads by clicking on the advertisement or by accessing a new menu option in either of the app's ad settings.

The new ability to disable political ads will apply to political, electoral, and social issue ads from candidates, Super PACs and other organizations that include the "Paid for by" political disclaimer.

The option will appear immediately for some U.S. users and roll out more broadly in the coming weeks. Facebook says is also plans to make the setting available outside the U.S. in countries where it has enforcement on ads about social issues, elections and politics.

​

In addition, Facebook says it is ensuring ads are more transparent by making sure the "Paid for by" disclaimers on political ads follow them after they've been shared. It is also allowing anyone who uses the company's Ad Library to track ad spending for Congressional races, rather than just making it available for U.S. presidential campaigns.

Along with the changes to how it manages political ads, Facebook also announced a Voting Information Center that will provide information on how and where to vote, as well as how to register to vote and how to vote by mail. Users can also turn on alerts that will remind them to vote and direct them to polling places when voting begins in November.

"We've built some of the most advanced systems in the world to combat election interference," said Facebook. "The Voting Information Center will be another line of defense."

In an op-ed published in USA Today, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg suggested these efforts were a response to criticisms about the platform's lack of action to curb the spread of misinformation online.

"Everyone wants to see politicians held accountable for what they say — and I know many people want us to moderate and remove more of their content. We have rules against speech that will cause imminent physical harm or suppress voting, and no one is exempt from them. But accountability only works if we can see what those seeking our votes are saying, even if we viscerally dislike what they say.

"Ultimately, I believe the best way to hold politicians accountable is through voting, and I believe we should trust voters to make judgments for themselves. That's why I think we should maintain as open a platform as possible, accompanied by ambitious efforts to boost voter participation."

Facebook says its goal is to register 4 million voters this year using Facebook, Instagram and Messenger, which is double the number of people it believes it helped register in 2016 and 2018.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: New Facebook and Instagram Options Let US Users Turn Off Political Ads

 

[Wanted797]

Not sure if I like this.

Sounds good. But it’s Facebook so is more than likely sketchy.

 

[Unggoy Murderer]

Sounds like just another way allow echo chambers to become more and more of a problem. "I'm going to turn off political ads, instead, I'll believe all of the tripe that my friends claim from their own skewed point of view!".

Facebook should focus more attention on preventing misinformation from circulating in the first place, or if it does get circulated, make efforts to notify people retroactively it was incorrect. It's all very well marking a post / Tweet as "incorrect" a few hours after it was posted, and after millions have seen it - they'll not go back and see it was flagged.

 

[SBlue1]

political ads should be forbidden because it favors the richer candidates with richer donors. And rich donors kind of make you corrupt since you don’t want to do anything that would make them stop supporting you the next term.

Or at least start by making negative political ads illegal. So many ads try to throw dirt on the opponent. Don’t say why the other candidate is not good. Better say why you are better suited for the job.

 

[alien3dx]

if can remove all politic from my country also.. dam i hate it.

 

[appleguy123]

The people who most need to turn them off will be the most likely to leave them on.

 

[repoman016]

When can we expect a "remove ALL ads" feature. no reason to single out politics thats discrimination.

Edit: eh what the hell do I care...I don't use social media anyways

 

[gnipgnop]

Facebook: "We want the money from disinformation campaigns, so we're going to continue to take it while punting the actual responsibility to our users".

 

[Tech198]

Does this come after the issue with Twitter should remove Donald Trumps ads? Facebook seems o be on on those political business as well..

Why must we all follow the leader? The ability to turn off political ads may not come good, particually those as a side ffect thinking their reckon they gona make a differet by allowing "everyone" to see it...

 

[iReality85]

Sounds like just another way allow echo chambers to become more and more of a problem. "I'm going to turn off political ads, instead, I'll believe all of the tripe that my friends claim from their own skewed point of view!".

Facebook should focus more attention on preventing misinformation from circulating in the first place, or if it does get circulated, make efforts to notify people retroactively it was incorrect. It's all very well marking a post / Tweet as "incorrect" a few hours after it was posted, and after millions have seen it - they'll not go back and see it was flagged.

I know that everyone uses Facebook differently. For me, it's mainly to keep up with family and friends; I certainly don't use it to get my news. I'd rather see what my friend made for dinner for the 100th time than see political ads. This is great option and I'll be turning them off.

Besides, I get enough political 'ads' anyway just from people's posts.

 

[Digital Dude]

These bleep-suckers just sent me an email stating that I requested to activate an account that I did not solicit. I would trust the crime family of Sicily before these bleepers'.

 

[JosephAW]

They're not going to remove ads, this is the time they make the most money from political ads ramping to to the November elections. They will find another subtile way to circumvent ad impressions by giving it another name.

 

[Syk]

Sounds good to me. Not a problem on my laptop with an adblocker but phone different story
Wish Youtube would do the same and stop recommending me Covid19 stuff to watch after I've hit the not interested X multiple times.

 

[gleepskip]

Sounds good to me. Not a problem on my laptop with an adblocker but phone different story
Wish Youtube would do the same and stop recommending me Covid19 stuff to watch after I've hit the not interested X multiple times.

Any of the promoted stuff can get stuffed. I don't care to watch/read anything about the latest media hysteria.

 

[Number 41]

political ads should be forbidden because it favors the richer candidates with richer donors. And rich donors kind of make you corrupt since you don’t want to do anything that would make them stop supporting you the next term.

Or at least start by making negative political ads illegal. So many ads try to throw dirt on the opponent. Don’t say why the other candidate is not good. Better say why you are better suited for the job.

Facebook / Social media advertising was one of the few ways candidates with less money or local candidates lacking the bankroll of national candidates could effectively reach voters on a budget.

This was especially true in this election cycle, where traditional door-to-door campaigning won’t be occurring due to concerns about virus issues.

 

[Puppuccino]

Sounds like just another way allow echo chambers to become more and more of a problem. "I'm going to turn off political ads, instead, I'll believe all of the tripe that my friends claim from their own skewed point of view!".

[...]

I don't see how that really matters or makes a difference. Even if you leave the ads on, people will still align with their friends and families view points because of the sheer nature of humans wanting to feel accepted.

If a close friend believes something, you're more likely to agree with them so you don't distance yourself. So I don't think this setting will do much good other than letting the actual well-informed voter numbers not get spammed with false information so they don't get a headache from it all.

 

[nostresshere]

political ads should be forbidden because it favors the richer candidates with richer donors. And rich donors kind of make you corrupt since you don’t want to do anything that would make them stop supporting you the next term.

Or at least start by making negative political ads illegal. So many ads try to throw dirt on the opponent. Don’t say why the other candidate is not good. Better say why you are better suited for the job.

I love the idea of making negative ads illegal. But lets figure this out. If Biden ran an ad showing Trump doing something as President, that is factual. And very good chances it is negative. How do you deal with that? Trump throws his own dirt.

 

[alphaswift]

Man, I hope this works for Canadians as well. A lot of us have American friends so we see a lot of those ads. We have no dog in that hunt, and are pretty sure Americans as a whole have gone off the deep end. The less I see about your elections the better.

 

[gleepskip]

If Biden ran an ad showing Trump doing something as President, that is factual. And very good chances it is negative.

Negative ads about Trump is about all he has. The Democrat election is about getting rid of Trump, not grand new visions of what our country could be. It's puzzling to me that the DNC sunk the campaigns of so many candidates that appeared to have vision and handed the party to a white guy with dementia.

 

[pweicks]

Gotta cover up those Trump ads. Biden needs all the help he can get.

 

[Dhonk]

When can we expect a "remove ALL ads" feature. no reason to single out politics thats discrimination.

Edit: eh what the hell do I care...I don't use social media anyways

Just curious, but my wife never clicks on ads. In the last month she’s seen a lot of ads based for products she’s recently bought or discussed out loud, yet never searched for or read about online. She swears Facebook has enabled her phone’s speaker to listen-in and is tracking purchases on her credit cards.

 

[az431]

political ads should be forbidden because it favors the richer candidates with richer donors. And rich donors kind of make you corrupt since you don’t want to do anything that would make them stop supporting you the next term.

Or at least start by making negative political ads illegal. So many ads try to throw dirt on the opponent. Don’t say why the other candidate is not good. Better say why you are better suited for the job.

Suggest taking a quick glance at the US Constitution sometime. There's some pretty useful info in there.

Political ads can't be made illegal. That freedom of speech thing can be annoying sometimes.

 

[Vanilla35]

Usually a FB hater here, but this is a great move. So far I'm loving the new Zuckerberg now that he's had a proper talking to. Also, from a business perspective; I see this diversion separating them from Twitter, and imo in a good way.

 

[az431]

Gotta cover up those Trump ads. Biden needs all the help he can get.

I don't see anywhere in this article or in the policy where it states that only Trump's ads are hidden. It states quite clearly that all ads are disabled.

Moreover, it is republicans that have benefitted the most from FaceBook's policies, and it's fair to say that FaceBook facilitated the orange-faced clown's election win four years ago.

And Biden doesn't need any help. He's already further ahead than any other candidate in the past 40 years despite doing nearly zero campaigning. Allowing the clown to self destruct is all he needs.

[automerge]1592401995[/automerge]

Usually a FB hater here, but this is a great move. So far I'm loving the new Zuckerberg now that he's had a proper talking to. Also, from a business perspective; I see this diversion separating themselves from Twitter, imo in a good way.

It's not. This is basically an attempt to justify not banning political ads that make false claims, and promote hatred and violence.

 

[Vanilla35]

Moreover, it is republicans that have benefitted the most from FaceBook's policies, and it's fair to say that FaceBook facilitated the orange-faced clown's election win four years ago.

While that's technically true, I think part of it was the meme culture behind Trump.