{"id":19366,"date":"2020-06-23T07:04:24","date_gmt":"2020-06-23T07:04:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rbsitsoftwaresolution.com\/blog\/facebook-adds-option-for-us-users-to-turn-off-political-ads-launches-voting-info-hub.html"},"modified":"2020-06-23T07:04:24","modified_gmt":"2020-06-23T07:04:24","slug":"facebook-adds-option-for-us-users-to-turn-off-political-ads-launches-voting-info-hub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rbsitsoftwaresolution.in\/blog\/facebook-adds-option-for-us-users-to-turn-off-political-ads-launches-voting-info-hub.html","title":{"rendered":"Facebook adds option for US users to turn off political ads, launches voting info hub"},"content":{"rendered":"

Beginning today, Facebook <\/a> users in the U.S. will have the option to \u201cturn off\u201d all political advertising on the platform. The company made the controversial decision not to fact-check or otherwise moderate political ads last year, but the new feature will give users more control over what they see \u2014 at least for users who decide to flip the new setting to \u201coff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Facebook made the announcement Tuesday in a blog post <\/a>and an op-ed from Mark Zuckerberg<\/a>. The post noted that the company originally announced the new option in January<\/a> but would now add it to the platform as it prepares for the 2020 U.S. presidential election. The option will appear immediately for some U.S. users, rolling out more broadly in the next few weeks. The option to disable political ads will apply to political, electoral and social issue ads from candidates, Super PACs and other groups. The option will pop up for users directly<\/a> on any political ad across Facebook and Instagram or through either platform\u2019s ad settings.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy giving people a voice, registering and turning out voters, and preventing interference, I believe Facebook is supporting and strengthening our democracy in 2020 and beyond,\u201d Zuckerberg wrote in USA Today. \u201cAnd for those of you who\u2019ve already made up your minds and just want the election to be over, we hear you \u2014 so we\u2019re also introducing the ability to turn off seeing political ads. We\u2019ll still remind you to vote.\u201d<\/p>\n

Facebook may have previously announced its intention to allow users to see fewer political ads, but the language in its blog post from the beginning of this year said only that it would add a setting to let people see \u201cfewer\u201d political ads \u2014 not turn them off altogether as the company is announcing now. The January post<\/a> also defended the company\u2019s decision not to fact-check political ads or limit its extensive ad targeting tools.<\/p>\n

In the instructional video the company provided, the setting offers to show users \u201cfewer ads about this topic\u201d rather than disable them entirely. We\u2019ve asked Facebook to explain the discrepancy.<\/p>\n

Update:\u00a0<\/strong>Facebook clarified that the option to turn off all political ads was the plan from the beginning, but it\u2019s sticking with the wording around seeing \u201cfewer\u201d of them in case some ads about politics or social issues slip through its filter.<\/em><\/p>\n

Last week, presumptive presidential nominee Joe Biden called on the company to fact-check its political advertising in the two weeks running up to the U.S. election. While Facebook\u2019s added option is a small change, it\u2019s still a rare concession for critics of its stubbornly laissez-faire view of political ads on its platform.<\/p>\n

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Biden slams Facebook for letting Trump run wild and demands policy changes in open letter<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Facebook plans to make the new setting available beyond the U.S. \u201cin countries where we have enforcement on ads about social issues, elections and politics,\u201d starting in the fall. The company is also implementing two ad transparency changes, making sure \u201cPaid for by\u201d disclaimers on political ads follow them after they\u2019ve been shared and allowing anyone who uses the company\u2019s Ad Library<\/a> to track ad spending for Congressional races. Previously this was only available for U.S. presidential campaigns.<\/p>\n

Along with the changes to how it handles political ads, Facebook also announced a Voting Information Center, a central hub that will provide information to U.S. voters on how to register to vote, request a mail-in or absentee ballot, any voting ID requirements and when and where to vote. The info center will also collect local alerts from election officials that might note adjustments to voting methods in light of COVID-19. The new voting info hub will be modeled after the coronavirus information center that Facebook launched in March.<\/p>\n

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Facebook will put a new coronavirus info center on top of the News Feed<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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According to the blog post, the information collected in the new U.S. voting hub will evolve as voters \u201cmove into different phases of the election,\u201d like registration cutoffs, vote-by-mail ballot request deadlines, early voting periods and election day itself.<\/p>\n

Facebook calls the effort \u201canother line of defense\u201d against election interference, clearly looking to avoid a repeat of its role in amplifying disinformation during the 2016 presidential election \u2014 a deeply consequential failure the company continues to grapple with a full four years later.<\/p>\n

Article source: http:\/\/feedproxy.google.com\/~r\/techcrunch\/social\/~3\/2y7G6XfJPd0\/<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Beginning today, Facebook users in the U.S. will have the option to \u201cturn off\u201d all political advertising on the platform. The company made the controversial decision not to fact-check or <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[10,7,14,15,6,12,11],"class_list":["post-19366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-update","tag-computer-news","tag-downloads","tag-microsoft-download-news","tag-networking-updates","tag-technology-update","tag-wordpress-plugin-download","tag-wordpress-theme-download"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t