Facebook's Ban on New Political Ads
Facebook is taking initiative to slow down communication and correct false claims revolving around the upcoming 2020 election. Essentially, they hope their strategies will combat potential unrest and harm to the public before the election by eliminating confusion. Although they haven’t talked much about their decision except provided a short statement from a representative to the media.
Reported by the Financial Times on September 15th, Facebook Global Affairs Head, Nick Clegg says that the company is planning on “’restricting the circulation of content’” if there is turmoil and unrest after the election. If the private company, Facebook, deems that that posts on Facebook concerning post-election results causes “civil unrest” (Coleman, 2020) they will ban it.
All the Financial Times reported was a few words from Clegg as Facebook as a whole has been silent on the topic. Facebook has devised plans for how to handle certain election results following the time expense of counting mail-in ballots (Coleman, 2020) as more Americans are requesting mail-in ballots than ever before due to COVID-19. There is also concern, started by Trump, that using mail-in ballots could lead to fraud.
In early September, Facebook decided to ban political advertisements the week before the upcoming election. Their reasoning was because they didn’t want “misinformation” to spread and to “’secure the integrity of this year’s election’” (Coleman, 2020). The pandemic also plays into the decision because the company doesn’t want people to fixate on the idea that voting in-person can lead to getting COVID-19. They are flagging and regulating posts that reflect false statements about the election. Overall, the company wants to maintain a level of normalcy and quiet the confusion.
During times of election, American citizens utilize social media, especially Facebook, as a platform to exercise their freedom of speech. It has become normal to post on Facebook about elections ever since Obama ran for office. Personally, I do not use this platform to communicate my thoughts about the election, however, I do know many other individuals that do and feel empowered and heard through posting.
In class, we discussed eight different theories and how they related to the first amendment. Facebook’s decision can be connected to the theory of Stable Change, otherwise known as the Safety Valve, as it emphasizes the importance of allowing American citizens to vent and express their ideas in a verbal rather than physical manner (Dean Smith, High Point University). This country is in political chaos over this election, the pandemic and international affairs—people want to expel their anger, and they should for the sake of the nation’s stability! The reasoning surrounding this theory, as noted by Benedict Spinoza, is that citizens will be less likely to act in violence (Dean Smith, High Point University).
On the contrary, Facebook’s decision to ban new political ads and slow down communication before the election does not align with Stable Change. Rather, I believe it is going to work against the theory and quiet angered, confused voices. This decision will suppress important dialogue during such a crucial point in the election-- how could people not be upset?! While Facebook will be able to fact-check campaign posts, the call-to-action and mobilizing posts that provide voters will time-sensitive information will be censored. Also, events that might influence a voter’s choice may not be covered in the week before the election which hides late-breaking news from Facebook users. Personally, I rely on social media to update me on late-breaking events surrounding candidates so I would feel disconnected from current news. Consequently, the lack of communication on Facebook during the climax of political debate will most likely cause individuals to feel upset and resort to aggressive action and speech on other social media platforms. In my opinion, messing with voter's freedom of speech so late in the election season will cause long-term resentment for Facebook.
Sources
https://slate.com/technology/2020/09/facebook-political-ad-ban-election-day.html
Photo: https://www.ciobulletin.com/IT-Services/facebook-political-ads
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