Facebook Bans Ads That Delegitimize Election Security

The Hill reports:

A Facebook official on Wednesday announced changes to the platform’s ad policy, pledging that the site would remove political ads that baselessly link to certain kinds of allegations of widespread voting fraud, such as false claims about mail-in voting.

The move, which comes as President Trump regularly makes claims without evidence that mail-in votes lead to widespread election fraud, goes into effect immediately according to the company’s director of project management, Rob Leathern.

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

For example, this would include calling a method of voting inherently fraudulent or corrupt, or using isolated incidents of voter fraud to delegitimize the result of an election. You can find more info and specifics in our Help Center here https://t.co/BPnm1z7LW6 (2/3)

— Rob Leathern (@robleathern) September 30, 2020

These changes apply to ads across Facebook and Instagram, and are effective immediately (3/3)

— Rob Leathern (@robleathern) September 30, 2020