You can be on Entrepreneur’s cover!

Facebook to Ban Political Ads After U.S. Election The social network plans to temporarily stop running political, electoral and social issue ads in the U.S. on Nov. 3.

By Stephanie Mlot

entrepreneur daily

This story originally appeared on PCMag

Sean Rayford/Getty Images via PC Mag

Social media has been at the center of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, with Facebook taking extra care to avoid the same mistakes it made four years ago.

At least until polls close. The social network plans to temporarily stop running political, electoral, and social issue ads in the U.S. on Nov. 3 — after the election is over — "to reduce opportunities for confusion or abuse," according to Guy Rosen, VP of integrity at Facebook, who says "we're not taking our eye off the ball."

The next 26 days are open season for propaganda, though Facebook last month announced a ban on new political ads one week before the election. Advertisers will be notified when the policy is lifted.

Planning for Election Results

Given that so many mail-in ballots will need to be counted, this year's election results aren't likely to be announced on Nov. 3. To avoid another "Dewey Defeats Truman" gaffe, Facebook is preparing "a range of policies and products" to keep users informed without spreading fake news, Rosen says.

"For example, when polls close, we will run a notification at the top of Facebook and Instagram and apply labels to candidates' posts directing people to the Voting Information Center for more information about the vote-counting process," Rosen explains. If a candidate or party declares premature victory, the social network will double down on alerts that tell people counting is still in progress and no winner has been determined.

Related: Americans Want Facebook and TikTok Banned Over Privacy Concerns

Fighting Voter Intimidation and Interference

Facebook is expanding its efforts to stop voter intimidation — online and at the polls. The site is encouraging more people to enroll in Facebook Protect, which helps safeguard social media accounts of campaigns, elected officials and federal and state political party committees and staff. It's also working closely with state attorneys general and law enforcement to identify and investigate potential voter interference.

In addition to removing calls for meddling at polling stations, Facebook will also pull content asking people to engage in poll watching (observing the counting of paper ballots) "when those calls use militarized language or suggest that the goal is to intimidate, exert control or display power over election officials or voters."

Stephanie Mlot

Reporter at PCMag

Stephanie began as a PCMag reporter in May 2012. She moved to New York City from Frederick, Md., where she worked for four years as a multimedia reporter at the second-largest daily newspaper in Maryland. She interned at Baltimore magazine and graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania (in the town of Indiana, in the state of Pennsylvania) with a degree in journalism and mass communications.

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Editor's Pick

Business News

From Tom Brady to Kevin O'Leary – See Who Lost Big in the Wake of the FTX Crypto Collapse

The crash exposed an $8 billion hole in FTX's accounts, leaving investors and customers scrambling to recoup their funds.

Business News

This Highly-Debated Piece of Cinematic History Just Sold For Over $700,000 at Auction

The wood panel from "Titanic" is often mistaken as a door. Either way, he couldn't have fit. (Sorry.)

Business News

Mark Zuckerberg Says This CEO Is the 'Taylor Swift' of Tech

Meta's CEO posed with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on Instagram Wednesday.

Fundraising

Avoid These 9 Pitch Deck Mistakes When Asking Others For Money

Crafting an efficient pitch deck requires serious effort, but at least it's not wandering in the dark since certain rules are shaped by decades of relationships between startups and investors.