Facebook announces tighter rules for political ads

To provide safeguards against damaging political ads in advance of the 2020 election, Facebook is tightening its rules by requiring political advertisers to provide a government ID. The company wants to verify the identity and location in the U.S. of any advertiser but has admitted that advertisers have submitted false information. Critics say that Facebook has done little to vet ads and has not provided researchers with easily accessed and complete information about the ads. (CBS News, August 28, 2019, by Irina Ivanova)

Harvard’s Dipayan Ghosh called the new rules a baby step forward and inadequate given the challenge. “We’ve seen incredible impacts coming from illegitimate political ads, including from seemingly legitimate actors,” he said. “And companies, particularly Facebook, are not doing enough to protect the public and our democracy.” (The New York Times, August 28, 2019, by Davey Alba)

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