Ahead of the presidential election, Facebook will block state-controlled media outlets from advertising to US-based users.
The ban is intended to prevent a foreign government from manipulating American public opinion in the run-up to Election Day on Nov. 3. “State-controlled media outlets rarely advertise in the US. Nevertheless, later this summer we will begin blocking ads from these outlets in the US out of an abundance of caution,” Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook’s head of cybersecurity policy, wrote in a news release today.
Facebook posts from state-controlled media organizations that enter your News Feed will also get slapped with a label that’ll indicate their government origins. The company will start labeling the posts next week in the US. You’ll also find the label when you visit the media organization’s Facebook page.
(Credit: Facebook)
“We believe people should know if the news they read is coming from a publication that may be under the influence of a government,” Gleicher added. Outside the US, state-controlled media organizations will be permitted to circulate ads, but the content will still get slapped with the same labels.
The upcoming change could affect dozens of state-controlled media outlets on Facebook that have millions of followers. For instance, China’s Xinhua News has over 80 million while Russia’s RT has over 6 million. However, Facebook will only apply the labels to media organizations that directly serve the government. To determine this, the company will examine the outlets's funding, ownership structure, and editorial policies.
“If we determine that there are enough protections in place to ensure editorial independence, we will not apply the label,” Gleicher said.
Facebook announced the policy as the company is trying to avoid a repeat of what happened during the 2016 presidential election. Hundreds of fake accounts tied to Russia bought ads and circulated posts on the platform to try and manipulate US voters. Another culprit in the election meddling was Russian state-controlled media outlets, RT and Sputnik. According to US intelligence, the Kremlin used both organizations to spread propaganda to US users on social media.
In response, Facebook has devoted more resources to hunting down government attempts to use fake accounts to pump out propaganda. People who wish to run political ads on the social network must also get their identities verified. However, rival platform Twitter last year decided to ban paid political ads altogether over concerns candidates will abuse the ads to spread misinformation to select users.
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