Facebook will let you see fewer political ads, but won't stop politicians from lying – CNET

Facebook revealed on Thursday a handful of updates it says will increase your control of political ads but stood firm on its policy to let politicians lie in ads on the social network.

The company plans to add a new control that will let people see fewer political and social issue ads on Facebook and Instagram. The feature will build on options already available in users’ Ad Preferences settings, Rob Leathern, Facebook’s director of product management, said in a blog post. Facebook said this option will show up in early summer in the US and will eventually expand to more locations. 

While Facebook is letting people choose to limit the ads they see, it reiterated that private companies shouldn’t be making decisions about political ads and called for industrywide regulation. 

“In the absence of regulation, Facebook and other companies are left to design their own policies,” Leathern said. “We have based ours on the principle that people should be able to hear from those who wish to lead them, warts and all, and that what they say should be scrutinized and debated in public.” 

These latest changes highlight the challenges Facebook faces as misinformation surges ahead of the 2020 US elections. CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other executives have defended Facebook’s decision to let politicians lie in ads despite criticism from civil rights groups and Democratic lawmakers.

Facebook also compared its policies to recent moves made by Twitter and Google, saying it will not ban political ads or limit targeting. These tools are important to a “wide range of NGOs, non-profits, political groups and campaigns,” Leathern said. 

Facebook also plans to make updates to its Ad Library, a public archive of ads that politicians and campaigns are running on Facebook and Instagram, and will roll out a control that lets people choose how advertisers reach them with a Custom Audience list. This could, for example, let people see political ads they would otherwise be excluded from.