Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg says users will be able to turn off political adverts on the social network in the run-up to the 2020 US election, according to BBC News. This comes in the wake of heavy criticism for allowing adverts from politicians that contain false information, and rival social platform Twitter banning political advertising last October. Facebook and its subsidiary Instagram will give users the option to turn off political adverts when they appear or block them using the settings features, and will be able to report them if they continue to appear. The feature, which will start rolling out on Wednesday, allows users to turn off political, electoral and social issue adverts from candidates and other organisations that have the “Paid for” political disclaimer. Facebook said it plans to make the feature available to all US users over the next few weeks and will offer it in other countries this autumn.
This is possibly more of a forced move to show that Facebook have attempted to clean up their act and are no longer using their social network for political gain. No doubt clever campaigners will attempt to find a loophole and highlight their political efforts to be viewed by millions of swaying voters. Nonetheless, this is really a strong move by Facebook and is desperately required to help curtail any political slants on social media, which is meant to be an open space for discussion.