From October 29th until Election Day, November 5th, no new ads about politics, elections, or social issues can be placed on Facebook.
As voting for the 2024 general election is underway, posts circulating on Facebook criticize the social media platform’s purported decision to block political ads in the week leading up to Election Day.
These posts claim that Facebook will introduce a “period of restrictions” and block all new political ads on the platform from Tuesday, October 29th until Election Day on Tuesday, November 5th. The post was accompanied by a graphic that read, “Facebook is silencing us.” October 29th. ”
One of the posts criticized Facebook’s decision, saying it creates a “significant hurdle for candidates and groups promoting or opposing ballot initiatives that appear on the November ballot.” Some argue that the restriction period does not stop misinformation, but only makes it harder for certain groups to mobilize voters.
Several VERIFY readers, including Priscilla and Sally, asked if the claims that Facebook was blocking new political ads ahead of Election Day were true.
question
Will Facebook block new political ads for the week leading up to Election Day?
source of information
answer
Yes, Facebook is blocking new political ads for the week leading up to Election Day.
what we found
Facebook’s parent company Meta announced last year that it would block new ads about politics, elections and social issues for one week leading up to Election Day in 2024.
Mehta said in a blog post on Sept. 30, 2024, that the restriction period will run from Tuesday, Oct. 29 until Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 5. During that time, new ads on these topics will not be able to run.
The new ban on political ads includes those scheduled to begin running between October 29th and November 5th.
VERIFY conducted an independent test to see if Meta blocked Facebook ads related to voter education that were scheduled to begin running on Wednesday, October 30th. Our ad was rejected on the same day because it did not comply with Meta’s social advertising policies. Issues, elections, politics.
This meta-policy is not new. Facebook also banned new political ads in the week leading up to the 2020 presidential election.
In explaining the reasoning behind the restriction period, Meta said that in the final days of the election, the company “may not have sufficient time to dispute new claims made in the ad.” He said he was aware of it.
Ads that served an impression before Tuesday, Oct. 29, or appeared in someone’s feed at least once during the 2024 restrictions period will still be able to run, but no major edits will be allowed, Mehta said. . That means some Facebook users will continue to see political ads in their feeds in the week leading up to Election Day.
Meta provides detailed information about advertiser requirements here.
The company’s policy doesn’t mean Facebook users can’t post about politics, social issues or elections, it just prohibits new ads related to those topics.
Google is also suspending advertising related to the November election, but that policy won’t go into effect until after the last vote is counted on Election Day. Google said the measure is “temporary” and that the company will “notify advertisers when this policy is lifted.”
Google is implementing this policy “out of an abundance of caution to minimize the potential for disruption, given the possibility that votes may continue to be counted after Election Day,” a company spokesperson said. told Axios.
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