Another Political Ads Ban

Good morning!

It’s a head-spinning time for political ad buyers in Georgia, who received emails from Facebook telling them that after the two Georgia runoffs, buyers in the state could no longer place ads relating to social issues, elections or politics.  

From my colleague David Cohen's piece, detailing Facebook's response: "This is part of our ongoing efforts to reduce the potential for confusion or abuse." The platform added it will tell advertisers when it lifts the blackout.

As solutions go, the political ads ban from Facebook and Google have been hammers to crack a nut, critics say. Candidates have missed out on millions in fundraising (the upside is that a ton of spend has been funneled to cable and local news). Plus, “social issues” encompass a whole host of mission-focused businesses, like ones that advocate on “hunger, the environment and immigration.”

For the year ahead, there’s a need for more clarity on how Facebook sharpens its tools to manage content, ad moderation and how effective these are. So please, get in touch, I’d love to hear your thoughts. 

Thanks for reading, [email protected]

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