Facebook Bans US Advertisements That Show Voting Fraud Widespread or Election Invalid
On Wednesday, Facebook banned advertisements on its flagship website and Instagram photo and video sharing platform that call widespread voting fraud, show US election results would be invalid, or which affect any method of voting.
The organization intimated the new rules in a blog post, adding to earlier restrictions on false claims of election victory.
The update came a day after US President Donald Trump appeared in the first televised debate with Democratic candidate Joe Biden to raise his groundless claims that the November 3 presidential election will be “rigged.”
Trump has been a big critic of mail-in voting, and he mentioned a few of small unrelated incidents to proclaim that fraud was already happening at large.
Facebook has been under the radar for failing to fact-check political ads appropriately and for widespread organic misinformation.
Quoting rules related to hate speech, it also took action on Wednesday to remove Trump campaign ads displaying that immigrants could be a major source of increasing coronavirus infections.
Facebook added that the new election ad prohibition would include those that “portray voting or census participation as useless/meaningless” or that “delegitimize any lawful method or process of voting or voting tabulation … as illegal, inherently fraudulent or corrupt.”
Further, Facebook also mentioned ads that calling an election fraudulent or corrupt because the result was uncertain on election night or because ballots received afterward were still being counted.
