Facebook fears that the remedy is worse than the disease. The web giant confirmed on Thursday that political advertisements, even false ones, will only be exceptionally censored, despite intense criticism from all sides and the risk of large-scale misinformation in the run-up to the US presidential campaign.
A blog post published on Thursday by Facebook product manager Rob Leathern shows that the network remains straight in its boots and does exactly what its founder Mark Zuckerberg had promised in the fall during a long speech on freedom d expression in Washington. "We base our principles on the fact that people can hear those who have the vocation to direct them, the good grain as the tares, and that what they have to say is sifted and debated in public", writes Leathern .
"In a democracy I think it's up to people to decide what is credible, not to tech companies," said the young founding billionaire on October 17, already stressing that there are a few exceptions, as in the case of incitement to violence. Both Leathern and Zuckerberg insist that it is not up to a private company to make the decision to censor this or that politician. They prefer to call “to a regulation which applies to the whole sector”.
Facebook "responsible" for Trump's election
Facebook derives most of its revenue and huge profits from its ability to target a given audience extremely precisely. An advantage that has not been overlooked by the presidential candidates, who spend large sums on the network, starting with President Donald Trump.
In an internal memo released this week after the leaks, Facebook vice president Andrew Bosworth said the network was "responsible for the election of Donald Trump." "I think the answer is yes, but not for the reasons that everyone thinks. He was not elected because of Russian disinformation or (from the firm) Cambridge Analytica. He was elected because he ran the best Internet advertising campaign I have ever seen. Period. "
Twitter bans paid political ads
Twitter has decided to ban political advertising from the network. Google has adopted an intermediate position by announcing in late November a tightening of its rules on political advertising, while refusing to "rule" on their veracity except in exceptional cases.
Facebook is particularly on the hot seat in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election after the Cambridge Analytica scandal: this British company had used their personal data without the knowledge of tens of millions of Facebook users to influence the outcome of the vote in 2016, in favor of Donald Trump.
To this were added revelations about online disinformation campaigns carried out by a Russian pharmacy close to the Kremlin, to help the candidacy of the republican billionaire. Facebook had been particularly slow to admit the scope of the intervention. While not changing anything, the social network claims "not to be deaf" to critics and promises to mobilize to "protect the elections".
World
Facebook recognizes that the good use of its services by Donald Trump favored his election
High-Tech
Twitter will no longer accept politically motivated ads
- Fake Off
- By the Web
- American presidential election
- Mark zuckerberg