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Facebook to Let Users Turn Off Political Adverts

posted by Fnord666 on Thursday June 18 2020, @06:22PM   Printer-friendly
from the what's-the-catch? dept.

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

Facebook to let users turn off political adverts:

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.

In a piece written for USA Today newspaper, he also says he hopes to help four million Americans sign up as new voters.

Facebook has faced heavy criticism for allowing adverts from politicians that contain false information.

Rival social platform Twitter banned political advertising last October.

"For those of you who've already made up your minds and just want the election to be over, we hear you -- so we're also introducing the ability to turn off seeing political ads," Mr Zuckerberg wrote.

Facebook and its subsidiary Instagram will give users the option to turn off political adverts when they appear or they can block them using the settings features.

Users that have blocked political adverts will also 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.

The company 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.

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  • (Score: 2) by Kitsune008 on Thursday June 18 2020, @09:14PM (3 children)

    by Kitsune008 (9054) on Thursday June 18 2020, @09:14PM (#1009733)

    I have never even seen a facebook webpage, much less visit/use facebook. I also have a relatively stupid flip phone, WITHOUT a touchscreen...and I love it.

    As for the weird looks, well, at my age(60+) I just positively could not care less. I'm sure their opinion is important to themselves, but I simply do not care at all.
    There is a certain freedom to geezerhood. It does not quite balance the scales of aging, but it helps. :-)

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 18 2020, @09:30PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 18 2020, @09:30PM (#1009741)

    Remember to zip your pants and you won't get the weird looks.

    • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 18 2020, @09:36PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 18 2020, @09:36PM (#1009744)

      My Granddad said, when one of his offspring noted his barn door was open, "If it can't get up, it can't get out!"

      • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 18 2020, @09:57PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 18 2020, @09:57PM (#1009755)

        Alzheimer's is not forgetting to zip up ... it's forgetting to zip down.