“You announced recently that the official policy of Facebook now allows politicians to pay to spread disinformation in 2020 elections and in the future. So I just want to know how far I can push this in the next year”
Facebook’s political ads policies have come under heavy scrutiny. Most of the arguments came out when President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign was allowed to run an ad on Facebook and multiple other platforms, making false claims about former Vice President Joe Biden. Many politicians, members of the media, and others have criticized Facebook and other social media platforms for refusing to take down fake political ads.
New York. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez interrogated Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg over the social media controversial advertisement policy.
During a tense exchange, Ocasio-Cortez pushed Zuckerberg about Facebook’s decision to not fact-check political ads, which essentially gives politicians almost total control of the content they post online.
During this interrogation zuckerberg said the company would “take that content down” if it included a call for violence, could risk imminent harm or encouraged voter suppression.
However, when Ocasio-Cortez asked whether she could run an ad targeting Republicans running for re-election and falsely say they voted for the Green New Deal, Zuckerberg told that he did not know the answer “off the top of his head.”
“Do you see a problem here with a complete lack of fact-checking on political advertisements?” Ocasio-Cortez asked, continuing, “So you will take down lies or you won’t take down lies? I think this is a pretty simple yes or no.”
Facebook unveiled the refinements to its policy that it had been promising. But restrictions on targeting were nowhere to be found. Instead, the company double down on its current policy, and said the only major change in 2020 would be to allow users to see “fewer” ads. (Fewer than what? It didn’t say.)
The move is rooted in ideas of personal responsibility — if you want to see fewer political ads and remove yourself from campaigns, that’s on you.
“Facebook isn’t only tolerating disinformation in political advertisements, it’s facilitating it”
–Tavinya k
scarlet 