Facebook’s parent company Meta announced plans on Wednesday to introduce a ban on political ads the week before the 2022 U.S. midterm elections, after making a similar decision during the 2020 presidential election.<\/p>\n
Meta said it is bringing the ban back because “we found that the restriction period achieves the right balance of giving campaigns a voice while providing additional time for scrutiny of political ads in the Ad Library.”<\/p>\n
The previous ban, in 2020, had become necessary after the company faced a huge backlash over misinformation on the website before the 2016 election.<\/p>\n
Some misinformation came from Russian-affiliated groups that some continue to believe was a key reason for Donald Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton.<\/p>\n
To prevent a similar scenario, the company introduced a ban in 2020. Facebook’s temporary ban during the 2020 election evolved into a longer ban, which was eventually lifted in March 2021.<\/p>\n
Social media platforms are an important source of misinformation, and lawmakers are demanding more from these platforms, especially as regards monitoring content on their platforms.<\/p>\n