Elections 2020: Facebook and Instagram launch controls to hide political ads
Facebook is a great source of influence for many people, every day we are bombarded with various information, and with that, it has a great responsibility in shaping our opinion. 2020 is an election year for the United States and other countries, therefore, these platforms are increasingly engaged in ending Fake News, Facebook and Instagram launch controls to hide political ads.
Part of this comes from the Comprova project, which is already in its third consecutive year and Facebook is one of the major participants. Through it, rumors and news receive a seal indicating its falsity and can even be removed from the social network.
Now another option to control how this information reaches us has been launched by Facebook and Instagram: the control for political ads. Through it, the network user will be able to choose if they want to see this type of advertising in the ad settings within the application, which until now only had customization options on tracking and cookies.
This option applies to political, electoral, and social advertising of candidates, Super PACs, and organizations that can receive any type of political sponsorship for such purposes and can influence people to adopt one side electorally. When seeing an ad of the type Facebook will show controls that allow you to hide it and configure how they are displayed, to facilitate access to the resource.
Another important point is that Facebook is becoming more transparent when political spending involves it. The Ad Library will now allow tracking of these expenses so that Congress can have more control over them.
On top of that, a Voting Information Center was also launched, with which it will be possible to obtain information about candidates, see verified news and even create a reminder to vote in November, when the elections will take place. This seems simple, but it is very important since voting is not mandatory in the United States.
According to Facebook, the plans involve registering 4 million users using Facebook, Instagram and Messenger applications alone, which is practically double the number recorded by these networks in 2016 and 2018.
Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO, gave an interview to USA Today where he stated:
“Everyone wants to see politicians accountable for what they say – and I know that many people want us to moderate and remove more of their content. We have rules against speech that will cause imminent physical harm or suppress the vote, and no one is exempt from them. accountability only works if we can see what those who seek our votes are saying, even if we viscerally dislike what they say. “
The new features will hit Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger in the coming weeks and first in the United States, but are expected to expand and reach other countries soon. The note does not mention Some countries, but it is very possible that the novelty will appear here since it mentions that countries with important social, political and election issues should be the next to see the Voting Information Center.
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