What we may be witnessing here is Facebook introducing a feature that allows them to delay and block legal complaints and requests related to questionable polit

What we may be witnessing here is Facebook introducing a feature that allows them to delay and block legal complaints and requests related to questionable political advertising and influence (whether domestic or foreign). This feature presumably wouldn't prevent those cases from concluding eventually, but introducing it now could mean that it'd be difficult for jurisdictions (local, state or federal) to prepare and apply meaningful regulations over what Facebook should permit in terms of election-related advertising. Mark Zuckerberg has previously stated he'll to 'go to the mat'[1] and fight if there's any existential threat to Facebook as a result of the election outcome. That's probably reassuring for Facebook employees to hear - they are likely to feel more invested in the health of the company that their own careers, social lives and financial outcomes are directly connected to than the health of the U.S. population and government which may seem more distant. In some less likely scenario it'd even be possible that Facebook leadership would perceive a weak U.S. government as an opportunity for the company to take on a larger role in the nation and perhaps worldwide. Naively as an outsider it might appear that Facebook's incentives would be to maximize the number of people using Facebook around election time, so that their audience figures and advertising revenue can be maximized. Creating an opt-out setting for political ads could make a dent in that revenue, although from outside Facebook it's hard to say how many people would become aware of the configuration setting. [1] - https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/oct/01/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-elizabeth-warren-big-tech https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/oct/01/mark-zuck...