Facebook is planning to impose a ban on political ads on its social network in the days leading up to the US election on November 3, according to people familiar with the company’s plans.
The potential ban is still only being discussed and hasn’t yet been finalised, said the people, who asked not to be named talking about internal policies. A halt on ads could defend against misleading election-related content spreading as people prepare to vote. Still, there are concerns that an ad blackout may hurt “get out the vote” campaigns, or limit a candidate’s ability to respond widely to breaking news or new information.
This would be a big change for Facebook, which has so far stuck to a policy of not fact-checking ads from politicians or their campaigns.