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Why would Facebook allow a Politician to Lie, but Not a member of a Superpac or other Activists?
Adriel Hampton, a San Francisco political activist is running for governor in the upcoming 2022 election, but not for the reasons you might think. And no, this is not fake news. Mr. Hapton is running to demonstrate the inherent hypocrisy in Facebook’s policy on fact-checking. Apparently, Facebook’s policy allows political figures to lie in ads!
Again, this is not fake news or hyperbole. In fact, in an exchange with Alexendria Ocasio-Crotez (D-NY), Mark Zuckerberg was asked “Could I run ads targeting republicans in primaries saying they voted for the Green New deal?”, to which Mr. Zukerber quietly replied, “Probably”.
According to Facebook’s guidelines on ads, there are 32 categories of prohibited content. Of the 32 there are at least 9 (listed below) that might be used to disqualify most political ads. Any of the categories below can be used to disqualify ads targeting republicans in primaries by suggesting they voted for the Green New Deal. So what’s up with that Mark?
Perhaps, Mr. Zuckerberg is concerned of the financial impact to Facebook should deceptive political ads be banned. The reality is that the total amount of revenue generated by political ads is likely a drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of Facebook Ads. Unlike…
