5 ms·

One thing to note: this only applies to politicians. It seems normal people and political groups can't post false political ads. https://www.washingtonpost.com/

One thing to note: this only applies to politicians. It seems normal people and political groups can't post false political ads. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-technology-202/2019/10/28/the-technology-202-facebook-takes-down-false-ad-from-political-group-but-it-still-won-t-police-politicians-directly/5db5bf61602ff10cf14f97e5/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-tec...

w-j-w 7y ago
This is what makes Facebook's behavior really inexcusable. Facebook has granted these people a special power on the platform, but are unwilling to police it.
- knzhou 7y ago
  Once again you are dammed if you do and damned if you don’t. If you like, imagine a totally random hypothetical set of Facebook rules (for example, the exact reverse of what the current rules are). You will find that it is easy, really completely trivial, to come up with reasons that this is “inexcusable” as well. The whole discourse around this is poisoned. I have literally watched people completely flip their principles in mere minutes, just to keep condemning Facebook.
  - burkaman 7y ago
    You're not damned if you don't. Stop hosting political ads. I guess then you're "damned" because you make less money, but I don't think that's what you meant.
    - knzhou 7y ago
      And what is a political ad? Does an ad for an abortion clinic count? How about an ad asking for donations for Palestine? Or Hong Kong? Or wall construction? How about an ad that only points out that stocks have gone up, along with a picture of Donald Trump and a flag in the background? Obviously this falls prey to the classic problem, which is that every partisan sees messages that benefit the other side, even incredibly indirectly, as insidious manipulation, while dismissing outright propaganda from their own side as “just getting the truth out”.
      - camel_Snake 7y ago
        I think tying it to the source paying for the ad would be an easy delineation. Is the purchaser a PAC, political campaign, or someone personally running for office? Political ad. Is the purchaser a private individual, or company? Nonpolitical. I'm not an expert in this area but I'm fairly certain FEC and IRS already have designations on what counts as political, one could just use those.
      - dashundchen 7y ago
        The FEC already has rules on what defines a political ad, including mentioning or displaying a candidate in a window before an election. There's additional distinction on how the ad was coordinated, the type of organization behind the ad etc. Those advertising politically in a federal election are included in reporting their activity to the FEC. So if an independent org ran those three ads, only the third could be considered political for election purposes.
        vonmoltke 7y ago
        What about all the political ads that are not connected to federal elections? People in this thread keep throwing around "political ad" as if it is a synonym for "election ad". It isn't.
        w-j-w 7y ago
        If nearly political ads are aimed eventually at electing people to do the things you want, I don't really see the distinction. I think Facebook should stay away from the entire set of political ads.
      - tmh79 7y ago
        >> Does an ad for an abortion clinic count? How about an ad asking for donations for Palestine? Or Hong Kong? Or wall construction? How about an ad that only points out that stocks have gone up, along with a picture of Donald Trump and a flag in the background? FB has armies of content moderators and content policies to police non political speech already. Look at the controversies surrounding "no nudity/sexual imagery" > "banning/unbanning breast feeding pics" > "banning/unbanning pics of the african tribe who nurse sick goat calves back to health with human breast milk". Its all complicated, every bit of it, and there is no reason to suggest that political content moderation is any more difficult than anything else. FB _can_ do it, they are already doing very complex content moderation. There is nothing special about "political" speech.
    - Kalium 7y ago
      It might be worth considering the political fallout of the platform Congresscritters use to get elected refusing to deal with them.
sachdevap 7y ago
Very much this. The top comment on the thread is just ignorant of the situation.

w-j-w 7y ago

This is what makes Facebook's behavior really inexcusable. Facebook has granted these people a special power on the platform, but are unwilling to police it.

knzhou 7y ago
Once again you are dammed if you do and damned if you don’t. If you like, imagine a totally random hypothetical set of Facebook rules (for example, the exact reverse of what the current rules are). You will find that it is easy, really completely trivial, to come up with reasons that this is “inexcusable” as well. The whole discourse around this is poisoned. I have literally watched people completely flip their principles in mere minutes, just to keep condemning Facebook.
- burkaman 7y ago
  You're not damned if you don't. Stop hosting political ads. I guess then you're "damned" because you make less money, but I don't think that's what you meant.
  - knzhou 7y ago
    And what is a political ad? Does an ad for an abortion clinic count? How about an ad asking for donations for Palestine? Or Hong Kong? Or wall construction? How about an ad that only points out that stocks have gone up, along with a picture of Donald Trump and a flag in the background? Obviously this falls prey to the classic problem, which is that every partisan sees messages that benefit the other side, even incredibly indirectly, as insidious manipulation, while dismissing outright propaganda from their own side as “just getting the truth out”.
    - camel_Snake 7y ago
      I think tying it to the source paying for the ad would be an easy delineation. Is the purchaser a PAC, political campaign, or someone personally running for office? Political ad. Is the purchaser a private individual, or company? Nonpolitical. I'm not an expert in this area but I'm fairly certain FEC and IRS already have designations on what counts as political, one could just use those.
    - dashundchen 7y ago
      The FEC already has rules on what defines a political ad, including mentioning or displaying a candidate in a window before an election. There's additional distinction on how the ad was coordinated, the type of organization behind the ad etc. Those advertising politically in a federal election are included in reporting their activity to the FEC. So if an independent org ran those three ads, only the third could be considered political for election purposes.
      - vonmoltke 7y ago
        What about all the political ads that are not connected to federal elections? People in this thread keep throwing around "political ad" as if it is a synonym for "election ad". It isn't.
        w-j-w 7y ago
        If nearly political ads are aimed eventually at electing people to do the things you want, I don't really see the distinction. I think Facebook should stay away from the entire set of political ads.
    - tmh79 7y ago
      >> Does an ad for an abortion clinic count? How about an ad asking for donations for Palestine? Or Hong Kong? Or wall construction? How about an ad that only points out that stocks have gone up, along with a picture of Donald Trump and a flag in the background? FB has armies of content moderators and content policies to police non political speech already. Look at the controversies surrounding "no nudity/sexual imagery" > "banning/unbanning breast feeding pics" > "banning/unbanning pics of the african tribe who nurse sick goat calves back to health with human breast milk". Its all complicated, every bit of it, and there is no reason to suggest that political content moderation is any more difficult than anything else. FB _can_ do it, they are already doing very complex content moderation. There is nothing special about "political" speech.
  - Kalium 7y ago
    It might be worth considering the political fallout of the platform Congresscritters use to get elected refusing to deal with them.

sachdevap 7y ago

Very much this. The top comment on the thread is just ignorant of the situation.