The campaign of the Democratic nominee Joe Biden is blaming Facebook for the loss of $500,000 in potential donations. Thousands of the Democratic nominee’s ads were blocked as the nation approaches its final week of voting.
What We Know:
- In a blog post, Facebook admitted to a technical issue, that caused political ads to be blocked. Facebook stated the reason for this flaw was to decrease the amount of false information spread.
- Facebook announced on September 3, 2020, that campaigns were to submit political ads regarding social issues, election, or politics by October 27 a week before Election Day.
- Megan Clasen, a senior media advisor for the Biden campaign, stated in a tweet on Thursday that the ads blocked provided information of Biden’s proposed plans on raising taxes. The ad created would have provided more information such as taxes not being raised for people who make under $400,000.
To put the FB issues into context, Trump is running ads that say that Biden’s tax plan will cause a 14% increase for middle class families and our ad that clarifies that he won’t raise taxes on anyone making <$400K is currently rejected on certain key targeting tracks pic.twitter.com/FnKQraXfAd
— Megan Clasen (@MeganClasen) October 29, 2020
- Facebook provided an updated statement on Friday stating they are actively in the process of rectifying the issues that will launch on October 30.
“This will allow advertisers to import/export ads and other campaign data. It may require some small changes to the way advertisers export this information from Ads Manager (we will be sharing further documentation here when it is live). This solution will continue to support changes like edits to budget amounts.”
With 4 days left until Election Day, both parties want ensure there mesaage is seen by American voters. As tensions increase, social media is constantly being flooded with disinformation regarding both presidential nominees. These social media platforms must ensure the information is fact checked and reliable.
