Facebook considering a political-ad blackout on its social network in days leading up US election in November, according to a report Friday from Bloomberg.
The social network has faced criticism over its political ad policies. A political ad ban, which reportedly hasn’t been finalized, could help fend off criticism of Facebook ahead of the 2020 presidential election.
Facebook has been accused of not doing enough to combat misinformation, including lies from politicians who are exempt from fact-checking on the platform. Russian trolls also used the social network to sow discord among Americans during the 2016 US presidential election.
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CEO Mark Zuckerberg has defended Facebook‘s position, saying private companies shouldn’t be making decisions about political ads. Rival social network Twitter banned political ads last year.
Earlier this month, Facebook said it would launch a new voter information center as part of an effort to get 4 million people to register to vote in the 2020 US elections. It also announced that it would let some people turn off all political advertising if they don’t want to see it.
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Facebook is also currently facing an ad boycott organized by civil rights groups that say the company isn’t doing enough to combat hate speech on its platform.
The company didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.