Facebook, as usual, is facing a lot of heat from US senators due to its recent political ad policy. As per the social media giant, it will allow US 2020 election candidates to run ads without fact-checking them. And again, as usual, Facebook isn't going to do anything to address the underlying issue. What this means, essentially, is that political candidates can run false ads, Facebook won't take them down, and Facebook will pocket the money from giving them that privilege. Sadly, it's now been clarified that the policy will apply globally.
As per a recent report by CNN, Facebook has confirmed that in the upcoming December UK elections, the social media giant will allow "politicians to run false ads on Facebook".
Reportedly, Facebook will let UK election candidates even run false ads. Image: Reuters
The report also mentions that it will not fact check ads from British political parties and candidates running for the House of Commons, but that ads from political groups like pro-Brexit group 'Leave.EU' will go through the fact-checking process.
(Also read: Facebook sued for discriminating on the basis of gender, age for financial service ads)
"So, you won't take down lies or you will take down lies? I think that's just a pretty simple yes or no."
Complete exchange between @RepAOC @AOC and Mark Zuckerberg at today's House Financial Services Cmte hearing.
Full video here: https://t.co/heT7Psnlp1 pic.twitter.com/0iiWtfU5gQ
— CSPAN (@cspan) October 23, 2019
The report further revealed that a Conservative member of Parliament who has been spearheading parliamentary hearings on Facebook, Damian Collins, has stated that Facebook should not let people spread disinformation just because they are "paying for it".
According to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, in a democracy, people should be allowed to judge for themselves if a politician is lying. This is in stark contrast to Twitter, which recently banned all its political ads from 22 November.
Adding to Facebook's troubles is the fact that it's fact-checking system has also been called into question. In an exchange with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Zuckerberg couldn't explain how The Daily Caller, a right-wing organisation that's been known to produce fake news, was registered as a fact checker. Later that week, Facebook also certified Breitbart, another right-wing publisher that has even gone so far as to organise targeted fake news campaigns, as a trusted news source.
Facebook's pretensions to the contrary, it appears to have lost the plot a long time ago.