SAN FRANCISCO – Facebook said on Wednesday it plans to lift the ban on political advertising on its network, resuming a form of digital promotion that has been criticized for spreading misinformation and falsehoods and inflaming voters.
The social network said it would allow advertisers to buy new ads about “social issues, elections or politics” starting on Thursday, according to a copy of an email sent to political advertisers and seen by The New York Times. These advertisers must complete a series of identity checks before being allowed to place the ads, the company said.
“We put this temporary ban into effect after the November 2020 election to avoid confusion or abuse after election day,” said Facebook on a blog. “We heard a lot of comments about it and learned more about political and electoral announcements during this election cycle. As a result, we plan to use the coming months to take a closer look at how these ads work on our service to see where other changes can be merited. “
Political advertising on Facebook always faces issues. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, said he would like to maintain a largely evasive stance on speech on the site – including political ads – unless it did immediate damage to the public or individuals, saying he “doesn’t want to be arbiter of truth. “
But after the 2016 presidential election, the company and intelligence officials found that the Russians used Facebook ads to sow discontent among Americans. Former President Donald J. Trump also used Facebook’s political ads to broaden allegations about an “invasion” of the Mexican border in 2019, among other incidents.
Facebook banned political ads at the end of last year as a way to quell the misinformation and threats of violence surrounding the November presidential election. In September, the company said it planned to ban new political ads in the week before election day and that it would act quickly against posts that tried to dissuade people from voting. Then, in October, Facebook expanded that action by declaring that it would ban all political and issue-based advertising after the polls closed on November 3 for an indefinite period.
The company ended up cracking down on groups and pages that publicized certain types of misinformation, such as discouraging people from voting or registering to vote. It has spent billions of dollars to eradicate foreign-influenced campaigns and other types of meddling by malicious state agencies and other malicious actors.
In December, Facebook lifted the ban to allow some advertisers to post political issues and candidacy announcements in Georgia for the second round of the January Senate election in the state. But the ban remained in effect for the remaining 49 states.
Attitudes about how political advertising should be handled on Facebook are decidedly mixed. Politicians who are not well known can often raise their profile and raise awareness about their campaigns using Facebook.
“Political ads are not bad things in themselves,” said Siva Vaidhyanathan, a professor of media studies and author of a book that studies the effects of Facebook on democracy. “They perform an essential service in the act of directly representing the candidate’s concerns or positions.”
He added: “When you ban all campaign ads on the most accessible and accessible platform out there, you tip the scales for candidates who can afford to pay for radio and television.”
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York, also said that political advertising on Facebook could be a crucial component of Democrats’ digital campaign strategies.
Some political ad buyers applauded the lifting of the ad ban.
“The ad ban was something that Facebook did to appease the public with the misinformation that spread across the platform,” said Eileen Pollet, digital campaign strategist and founder of Ravenna Strategies. “But it really ended up hurting the good actors, while the bad actors had complete freedom. And now, especially after the election is over, the ban really hurt local and nonprofit organizations. “
Facebook has long sought to draw the line between the vigorous moderation of its policies and a lighter touch. For years, Zuckerberg defended the right of politicians to say what they wanted on Facebook, but that changed last year amid growing alarm about the potential violence surrounding the November elections.
In January, Facebook banned Trump from using his account and posting on the platform after he used social media to delegitimize election results and incited a violent revolt among his supporters, who invaded the United States Capitol.
Facebook said Trump’s suspension is “indefinite”. The decision is now being scrutinized by the Facebook Oversight Board, an outsourced entity created by the company and made up of journalists, academics and others who judge some of the thorny decisions to apply the company’s content policy. A decision is expected to be made in the coming months.
On Thursday, political advertisers on Facebook will be able to send new ads or activate existing political ads that have already been approved, the company said. Each ad will appear with a small notice, stating that it has been “paid for” by a political organization. For those who buy new ads, Facebook said it could take up to a week to clear the identity authorization and ad review process.