Facebook to Limit Political Ads Week Before Election, Label Premature Claims of Victory

Facebook will prohibit new political advertisements in the week before the US presidential election in Nov and seek to flag premature claims of victory by candidates, Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said. The steps are meant to head off last-minute misinformation campaigns and limit the potential for civil unrest, Zuckerberg said. “I’m worried that with our nation so divided and election results potentially taking days or even weeks to be finalized, there could be an increased risk of civil unrest across the country,” he said, adding that “our democracy is strong enough to withstand this challenge and deliver a free and fair election.”

Among the moves Facebook announced are plans to append a label to any false or premature claims of victory by candidates that will direct users to vote tallies and current results. The Reuters news service will join with Facebook to provide that information. Facebook also plans to prohibit campaigns from running new political ads during the final week of the campaign, Zuckerberg said. The step is meant to prevent campaigns from promoting misinformation at the last minute, when there won’t be adequate time to rebut it, the company said. Other new Facebook election policies include limitations on the volume of messages that can be sent through its Messenger product and an expansion of Facebook’s rules against voter suppression to cover implicit attempts to mislead Facebook users about voting procedures. Facebook will also seek to protect election officials from threats of violence during the vote-counting process, he said. The company will also start implementing its plans to take down misinformation about voting, effective immediately.