NEWS18 June 2020

Facebook allows users to block political advertising

Media News North America

US – Facebook will allow US voters to switch off political advertising ahead of November’s presidential election.

Facebook on phone

Starting this week, some people will be able to turn off any advertisements for social issues and electoral or political ads from candidates or other organisations that have the “paid for by” political disclaimer on them.

Facebook had announced earlier this year that it would allow users to reduce the amount of political advertising they see on Facebook and Instagram, and the feature will now come into force ahead of the 2020 elections.

The changes include retaining a “paid for by” disclaimer on any adverts that are then reposted on other people’s Facebook profiles, so people can see who is behind the original post.

The social media giant is asking users to report to them any political adverts that appear to slip through the new settings.

An Ad Library has also been set up by Facebook to allow users to track advertisement expenditure for the US congressional and senatorial elections being held alongside this year’s presidential election.

Facebook is offering a custom tracker to compare the spending of advertisers running political or issue advertisements.

The new settings will be just for the US initially, but will spread to other countries where Facebook has control over political and electoral advertising later this autumn.

@RESEARCH LIVE

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