Meta Shortens Edit Window on Political Ads

To tackle misinformation around the November U.S. midterms, Meta will no longer allow any edits to social, political or electoral ads that have previously been approved to run in the week prior to Election Day, the company announced. The tech giant will not permit any new ads about social issues, elections or politics from Nov. 1 through Nov. 8. This means that ads relevant to these topics must be created and have delivered impressions with a valid disclaimer before Nov. 1. Advertisers, however, can edit bid amount, budget and schedule preapproved ads while pausing and unpausing these ads during the restriction period. But edits around ad placement, creative changes, targeting and optimization won’t be allowed in the immediate run-up, since claims may be harder to contest or fact-check in a short space of time. Meta has faced constant criticism for years around how it handles political ads, especially after the 2016 U.S. elections. Facebook also came under fire for last year’s Jan. 6 insurrection, where the platform was criticized for hosting insurrection threats months before the siege of the U.S. Capitol. This time, the platform keeps voter interface at the forefront while limiting ad edits in the week leading to the elections. Facebook Loses Its Luster for Some Political Advertisers Similar to the tactics used during the 2020 presidential elections, Meta will continue to reject ads that mislead people about when and how to vote, or not to vote, content that instigates violence based on voting outcomes or questions the legitimacy of the upcoming election. These precautionary changes come as an effort by Meta to limit misinformation around elections and prevent voter interference. Meta plans to lift this restriction the day after the election with no plans of extending it, but will consider additional safeguards and restrictions if necessary, Meta's president, global affairs Nick Clegg told Axios. To its updated policy, the tech giant—who invested $5 billion globally on safety and security last year—takes steps to prevent misinformation in lieu of voting and false narratives about election fraud mostly by conservative lawmakers. This includes the removal of content with misleading claims about dates, locations, times and methods of voting. False information around who can vote, whether a vote will be counted, and qualifications for voting will also be removed. More so, posts that call for violence related to voting, voter registration or administration, or election outcomes will not be allowed on the platforms. Preventive policy updates aside, the tech giant will continue to show people reminders that direct them to information on how and when to register to vote while boosting comments on posts from local election officials. To that, Meta plans to invest an additional $5 million in fact-checking and media literacy initiatives ahead of the midterm, including efforts to limit Spanish-language misinformation.