Facebook extends ban on US post-election political ads amid surge in misinformation

While the tiresome week of US Election 2020 with polls closing, days-long vote counting ended on November 7 with Joe Biden declared as the president-elect, Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook Inc said on November 11 that its post-election ban on political ads is expected to last for another month. The baseless claims around the polling stations and vote counting have not ceased to exist even after Biden is declared the winner with US President Donald Trump refusing to concede and mounting legal challenges.

Amid the chaos, Facebook has raised concerns over campaigns and groups that are willing to reach voters for key Georgia races in January that will determine the control of the Senate. In a bid to ban misinformation and abuse on the social media platform, the website has introduced a ban on political adds that was initially rolled out for only a week but now, reportedly it could b extended. Moreover, Alphanet Inc’s Google is also planning on retaining the post-election political ad ban.

In an email quoted by PTI citing media outlet, Facebook told the advertisers, “While multiple sources have projected a presidential winner, we still believe it's important to help prevent confusion or abuse on our platform” adding that it the pause shall be expected in another month though there “may be an opportunity to resume these ads sooner.”

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The same information was later confirmed by the social network in a blog post. Mostly all social media platforms have been struggling to contain the misinformation rooted from the US Election 2020 ith Trump shooting baseless allegations of his own such as discrediting the very democratic process that made him a winner in 2016. 

Trump has not only challenged the outcome of the elections but also claimed irregularities even though legal experts have warned the US President that there is only a little chance that the outcome can be changed. However, the Republican leader has refused to concede and has even stalled the transition process to the president-elect, Joe Biden. 

Read - Twitter, Facebook Struggle To Contain Spread Of Trump's Misinformation About US Voting

Facebook group called for a nationwide recount

While confusion continues to grip the United States, in a group was created on Facebook earlier this week with members growing rapidly to 400,000, the users were calling for nationwide recount swapped accusations without any proof and the alleged fraud and state vote counts every few seconds.  Vanita Gupta, chief executive of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights even said that the reality right now is that “we are not through the danger zone.”

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