Recently, giant tech apps like Facebook, Twitter, and Google have been called by a Senate panel which includes lawmakers as well as shareholders on account of Section 230. According to this new development, the lawmakers are trying to rewrite the legalities and legal clauses that protect these tech companies from major accountability.
In a virtual Senate hearing, Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg appeared and claimed that Facebook’s overall revenue has less than 1% of share from political ads, and since May 2018, the company’s data shows that Facebook has generated a pretty small amount of around $2.3 billion revenue from political and social issues ad campaigns.
Facebook is not new to controversy, and after the Cambridge Analytica Scandal, the company has lost a lot of trust amongst its users and other business entities. The company is also accused of using political ad business in a rather unfair manner and because of its ‘freedom of speech’ policy, it has not refrained from allowing political ads that contain lies too. This is one reason why Facebook faced a lot of criticism after the 2016 US Presidential election. The company has often been cited as the hub of misinformation and has been accused of adversely affecting and influencing the voters’ behavior too with its misleading, unchecked political ads.
However, the data that Facebook has presented in front of the Senate highlights that the company has not been engaging with political ads this time around as much as it used to in the past. According to Facebook’s data, ad buys from Joe Biden are around $93 million in all these months, and Trump’s ad buys are around $89.3 million so far.
Also, Trump’s ad campaigns have been removed recently by the platform because they were violating the guidelines and policies. On the basis of violation of voter interference policy, Facebook has removed more than 48 ads that were a part of Trump’s campaign.
It seems that the past scandals have scarred the company, and this time around, Facebook is trying to be extra cautious about everything related to the election and the unrest that can be caused because of the event. Facebook has made several changes in its policies too just for the time being, which include a political ad ban that will be implemented one week before the election. Also, some strict policies about the removal of posts containing premature voting results have been implemented to avoid the spread of misinformation.
So, Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg’s stance remains firm in front of the Senate that Facebook’s political ad money is so less that it does not even worth any kind of controversy this time.
In a virtual Senate hearing, Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg appeared and claimed that Facebook’s overall revenue has less than 1% of share from political ads, and since May 2018, the company’s data shows that Facebook has generated a pretty small amount of around $2.3 billion revenue from political and social issues ad campaigns.
Facebook is not new to controversy, and after the Cambridge Analytica Scandal, the company has lost a lot of trust amongst its users and other business entities. The company is also accused of using political ad business in a rather unfair manner and because of its ‘freedom of speech’ policy, it has not refrained from allowing political ads that contain lies too. This is one reason why Facebook faced a lot of criticism after the 2016 US Presidential election. The company has often been cited as the hub of misinformation and has been accused of adversely affecting and influencing the voters’ behavior too with its misleading, unchecked political ads.
However, the data that Facebook has presented in front of the Senate highlights that the company has not been engaging with political ads this time around as much as it used to in the past. According to Facebook’s data, ad buys from Joe Biden are around $93 million in all these months, and Trump’s ad buys are around $89.3 million so far.
Also, Trump’s ad campaigns have been removed recently by the platform because they were violating the guidelines and policies. On the basis of violation of voter interference policy, Facebook has removed more than 48 ads that were a part of Trump’s campaign.
It seems that the past scandals have scarred the company, and this time around, Facebook is trying to be extra cautious about everything related to the election and the unrest that can be caused because of the event. Facebook has made several changes in its policies too just for the time being, which include a political ad ban that will be implemented one week before the election. Also, some strict policies about the removal of posts containing premature voting results have been implemented to avoid the spread of misinformation.
So, Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg’s stance remains firm in front of the Senate that Facebook’s political ad money is so less that it does not even worth any kind of controversy this time.
