Facebook Bans $2 Mln Ads Before US Election

Facebook Vice President Nick Clegg announced Today, that the firm rejected 2.2 million Facebook and Instagram ads, and 120,000 messages removed for attempting to obstruct the vote in the upcoming US presidential election.

''We have forged partnerships with 70 specialized media, including five in France, on the verification of information, and AFP is one of these partners, Clegg reported''.

Also, he explained that the company is using artificial intelligence which has made it possible to delete billions of messages and fake accounts, before they are even reported by users.

Noteworthy, Facebook announced on October, that it will ban all political, election, and social issue ads after the US presidential election that will be held on Nov. 3, in order to curb misinformation. This came with tensions rising between President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger Sen. Joe Biden.

The company reported, on election day, Facebook will remove implicit calls to visit polling places to intimidate voters that use militarized language such as “army” or “battle.” Also, Facebook will notify users of the latest results at the top of news feeds on Facebook and Instagram.

Last August, according to Times, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and some of his lieutenants have begun holding daily meetings about Trump’s potential response should he lose, including a “kill switch” to shut off political advertising after the election.

Those concerns are a high priority for social media companies whose platforms have been used in elections around the world to spread conspiracy theories, pisive messages, and outright falsehoods.

The New York Times reported that employees at the company are worried that President Trump and supporters may use the social media network to de-legitimize the election results should he lose to former Vice President Joe Biden on November 3.