Posted on 01/09/2020 12:42:32 PM PST by karpov
Facebook says it will continue to allow political ads that target the social media platform's users, sticking to its position despite concerns about the potential impact on the upcoming presidential election. Federal Election Commissioner Ellen Weintraub sharply criticized the policy, saying Facebook's "weak plan suggests the company has no idea how seriously it is hurting democracy."
Facebook's policy falls short of measures recently taken by other tech giants. Google says it will limit the ability of political ads to target an audience, and Twitter has banned political ads entirely.
Taking aim at Facebook's policy in a series of tweets Thursday morning, Weintraub, a Democrat, said, "I am not willing to bet the 2020 elections on the proposition that Facebook has solved its problems with a solution whose chief feature appears to be that it doesn't seriously impact the company's profit margins."
Facebook also says it's not changing how it handles the content of ads. While the company says its community standards bar hate speech and harmful content, the policy announced Thursday does not address calls from those who want the company to fact-check ads before it publishes them. (Note: Facebook is among NPR's financial supporters.)
In announcing the policy Thursday, Facebook's director of product management, Rob Leathern, wrote that "people should be able to hear from those who wish to lead them, warts and all, and that what they say should be scrutinized and debated in public."
Facebook says it shouldn't be in the business of fact-checking, that the U.S. needs new laws to govern political speech on social media — and to a degree, the American Civil Liberties Union agrees.
"This will not be a popular view. But on the whole, we think that Facebook got this right," says Ben Wizner, director of the ACLU's Speech, Privacy, and Technology
(Excerpt) Read more at npr.org ...
We’re a republic, you idiot. (not you karpov)
Who the HECK is this and why is she saying this in her role as a Federal Employee?
FIRE HER!
I’ll tell you what “will not do”. Steyer and Bloomers spending millions on their Trump bashing, “campaign ads” in their effort to pull the DNC’s leftwing “media’s” nads out of the fire. I’m getting sick of those two bozos and their overkill ads. Geez. Give Americans a break. Neither of those two bozos have any intention of running for President, IMHO.
Funny they are only worried about Ads and Fake News on Social Media when the Majority of Fake and Lies are on Cable, Satellite and OTA broadcasts.
The 1st Amendment ring a bell to this clown?
She wasn’t actually “fired” - her term ended.
By law, no more than three FEC commissioners can be members of the same political party. She is one of the Democrat commissioners.
This just shows how much contempt Democrat party has for voters. It seems any exposure to political content is a threat to their ability to make decisions about elections.
From a liability standpoint alone that is a good decision.
hissy-fit # 52,589,402
Dear Ellen.. F O!
I feel dirty but I think I agree with FB. Banning political ads is wrong and no one on broadcast TV fact checks commercials before they are run. They lie all the time.
Also, they still think that FB affected the 2016 election. When in reality it was Hillary Clinton who did. I voted for Trump but I was originally not for Trump, but now, I could not imagine voting for anyone else.
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