Facebook bans new political ads the week before election day

Facebook announced Thursday it will ban new political ads from running in the week before the Nov. 3 presidential election. "We won’t accept new political ads in the week before the election."

In addition to the new restriction, Facebook said it will link any post from a candidate attempting to declare victory before the final results are in to vote counts from Reuters and the National Election Pool.

Facebook also said that it will block all political and issue ads after polls close on Election Day — its latest attempt to avoid becoming a tool for manipulating an election already threatened by misinformation and attempts to influence the result.

“[W]hile ads are an important way to express voice, we plan to temporarily stop running all social issue, electoral, or political ads in the U.S. after the polls close on November 3, to reduce opportunities for confusion or abuse," Guy Rosen, the company's vice president of integrity, said in a blog post. "We will notify advertisers when this policy is lifted.”

The ad halt is likely to rattle candidates, campaigns, advocacy groups and political advertisers who have come to rely on Facebook ads as a powerful political tool.

From here until we have a president: It's now just 5 days until Election Day and early voting is well under way across the country, meaning these policies and any further changes may be too late to impact how some are casting their ballots.

Original Article by Politico: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/07/facebook-political-ads-election-ban-427452

Source: https://about.fb.com/news/2020/09/additional-steps-to-protect-the-us-elections/