In a blog post published yesterday, 16th June 2020, Facebook announced that it is giving users “more control and transparency for political ads”. This was in addition to the company announcing launching a voting information effort in the United States.
The blog post was titled, Launching The Largest Voting Information Effort in US History. Facebook mentions that it aims to help up to 4 million voters register and get to polls on time. It added that this became important in the light of recent adjustments to voting procedures due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The company said that it is employing the same tactic it used for the COVID-19 Information Center to run its Voting Information Center. Facebook says:
“We are also working with state election officials and other experts to ensure the Voting Information Center accurately reflects the latest information in each state.
“The information we highlight will change to meet the needs of voters as we move into different phases of the election like registration periods, deadlines to request a vote-by-mail ballot, the start of early voting, and Election Day.”
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However, while many people will benefit from these political ads; Facebook says some users prefer to have some level of control over what they see. It adds that the control feature will also be available for Instagram users as well.
“Starting today for some people and rolling out to everyone in the US over the next few weeks, people will be able to turn off all social issue, electoral or political ads from candidates, Super PACs or other organizations that have the “Paid for by” political disclaimer on them.
“You can do this on Facebook or Instagram directly from any political or social issue ad or through each platform’s ad settings. However, we know our system isn’t perfect. So if you’ve selected this preference and still see an ad that you think is political, please click the upper right corner of the ad and report it to us,” the social media house said.
Facebook also provides instructions on how to use the control via two videos for Facebook political ads and Instagram political ads. It adds that while only US citizens will get this feature, for now, it will also reach other countries soon.
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