Facebook officials said on Wednesday that their ban on US political ads will likely continue for another month, in the wake of concerns over what they consider “confusion” and “abuse.”
As the big tech tyrants tighten their grip, join us for more free speech at Parler—the anti-censorship social media platform
Facebook officials said on Wednesday that their ban on US political ads will likely continue for another month, in the wake of concerns over what they consider "confusion" and "abuse."
The Facebook ban went into effect a week before US elections, including presidential elections which took place on November 3rd, and was originally designed to be lifted after the elections. However, given the uncertain outcome of the elections, both at the presidential level and other levels, the ban has yet to be lifted. According to Facebook, the ban will stay in effect for at least another week, and possibly for a month or more.
A statement released by Facebook said, "While multiple sources have projected a presidential winner, we still believe it’s important to help prevent confusion or abuse on our platform." The statement went on to say the ban could easily last a month or more, although there "may be an opportunity to resume these ads sooner."
The Facebook ban directly affects two hotly contested runoff elections for the two US Senate seats still up for grabs in the state of Georgia. The current Republican lead of one in the Senate means that the Senate majority is yet undecided. Georgia is also one of the states where legal processes regarding the presidential election and possible fraud are currently pending
Google also has a similar prohibition in effect, and have not mentioned how long it may last. A spokesperson for Google mentioned that they would be looking at factors such as civil unrest to determine when they could allow US political ads again.
Both Democrat and Republican institutions have been vocally critical of Facebook and other social media. Republicans are critical of what they perceive as a prevalent and pernicious media bias against them.
According to the New York Post, Democrats feel that Facebook and other social media giants aren't doing enough to curb what they deem is "misinformation" and "fake news."
Mark Jablonowski, a partner of a Democrat-connected firm that works on publicity, said, “It is driving us absolutely bonkers.”
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