Facebook will block any ads from presidential candidates falsely claiming victory

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Facebook has already come out to say that it would ban new election ads a week before the election, and in the weeks since, the social platform has taken additional steps to maintain some level of election-related integrity.

First, the company noted that it wouldn’t allow ads claiming premature victory and now that also includes just plain false claims of victory. With mail-in voting in the spotlight, election results will almost certainly take longer to finalize and it’s going to be – for lack of a better term – a shitshow on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.

In addition to this news, Rob Leathern, Director of Product Management at Facebook, notes in a tweet that Facebook will ban ads that seek to “delegitimize the outcome of an election.”

As we get closer to Election Day we want to provide further clarity on policies we recently announced. Last week we said we’d prohibit ads that make premature declarations of victory. We also won’t allow ads with content that seeks to delegitimize the outcome of an election (1/3)

— Rob Leathern (@robleathern) September 30, 2020

He goes on to clarify that this includes false claims of voter fraud or using isolated incidents of voter fraud to delegitimize the election.

Will it help? Who knows honestly. Everything is terrible right now, and social media is just a magnifying glass for all of the garbage. Steps like this from Facebook are a step in the right direction, but as long as users can keep spreading lies related to mail-in voting and the election, it’s difficult to say just how much this will actually matter.

What do you think? How do you feel about political ads on social platforms? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

Editors’ Recommendations:

• Facebook is now adding unified chat between Messenger and Instagram
• Facebook really, really wants people to use its new Voter Information Center
• Facebook and Twitter say Russia is at it again with disinformation campaigns ahead of the election
• Twitter is cracking down on QAnon, deletes 7,000 accounts and limits 150,000 more

Josiah Motley

Former KnowTechie editor.