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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.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 18 2020, @06:23PM (8 children)
Now do all of them
(Score: 5, Touché) by takyon on Thursday June 18 2020, @06:34PM (7 children)
Enter your credit card information to continue to Facebook Premium. 😊
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 18 2020, @07:50PM (6 children)
Wait I can opt out? Where do I unsign up for facebook?
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Thursday June 18 2020, @08:06PM (5 children)
https://www.facebook.com/help/224562897555674 [facebook.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 18 2020, @10:39PM (2 children)
Oh cool do they stop the web bugs and cookies on pretty much every website out there?
You have an account if you want one or not. There is no opt out. At best you can stunt it with an adblocker and/or javascript blocker. At least until google and Mozilla decide https only and dns over https only and plugins are 'problematic'.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 19 2020, @07:25AM (1 child)
Pssh, just recompile with your own CA and set up the net that YOU trust.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 19 2020, @02:39PM
Or use GNU IceCat instead, until we form a new standards body that is controlled by tech workers, not the bosses.
- No to living "standards."
- Against corporate control.
- For meaningful, concrete standards.
- For diversity of rendering engines.
But that probably sounds too much like OMG brown-shirted, chair-throwing, toejam-eating socialism to this lot. Keep deepthroating that corporate cock. Alphabet DBA Google Chrome is capitalist software at its best!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 19 2020, @02:54AM (1 child)
Thanks for the link takyon. I will never intentionally click on a fb link (or yt either). I like SN, so I can only hope there was some insight behind the link. If so, I hope there would be an alternate method to consume it. Unfortunate if not.
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Friday June 19 2020, @01:04PM
What's there is instructions about switching between old-style facebook and new-style facebook, about deleting your facebook account, about suspending it, and about restoring it within 30 days if you decide deleting it was a mistake.
Not very useful if you don't facebook.
-- hendrik
(Score: 4, Touché) by fustakrakich on Thursday June 18 2020, @06:26PM (16 children)
What's a "political" advert? And who determines these things?
Oh, what the hell am I saying? I don't look at facebook. I guess that's a pretty effective block
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 4, Insightful) by DannyB on Thursday June 18 2020, @07:23PM
Political Ad: (noun) An ad for any public policy idea or politician that you do not like.
Is there a chemotherapy treatment for excessively low blood alcohol level?
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 18 2020, @07:47PM (2 children)
What's an "a" and who determines that? How can we know anything?! I give up!
(Score: 3, Touché) by Username on Friday June 19 2020, @12:19AM (1 child)
That depends on what your definition of "is" is.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 20 2020, @06:12PM
And whether you inhaled when you smoked pot.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 18 2020, @08:41PM (9 children)
Oh, small stuff like
https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/18/facebook-trump-campaign-nazi-imagery-red-triangle/ [techcrunch.com]
At a certain point conservatives are gonna have to face the fact that they openly and at best accepted a literal Neo Nazi president with way too many ties to the KKK such as his father being a member.
Hey fustakrakich, do you still want to say "both sides" in the face of such blatant neo-nazi fascism? Should we draw a distinction between politically corrupt assholes and politically corrupt assholes that assault innocent US civilians and promote rightwing extremists to politically motivated violence?
(Score: 1, Redundant) by fustakrakich on Thursday June 18 2020, @09:09PM (5 children)
Oh please! If you wanted to defeat him, you would put up a winner, not a decrepit 44 year incumbent. That especially goes for congress. You are the cynics that reelect them, all the same people since Carter. So save your breath
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 4, Insightful) by captain normal on Thursday June 18 2020, @11:22PM (1 child)
Trump War Room"?? What does that suggest? Looks to me like Trump has declared war on the citizens of this country.
"It is easier to fool someone than it is to convince them that they have been fooled" Mark Twain
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 18 2020, @11:29PM
Or maybe using meme magic.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 19 2020, @01:18PM (1 child)
There are plenty of people interested in intelligent, moral candidates without a big history of lies and corruption. Their desires are ignored in favor of the party propaganda machine and its billionaire backers. That's true on both sides of the aisle.
Whether you love Bernie Sanders or hate him, there's a strong argument to be made that there were 10+ of the 20-some candidates in the Democratic Presidential Primary solely to pull away enough Sanders supporters to allow Biden to win the nomination. I'm not saying Sanders is a great choice, but he's a lot further from being the establishment's first pick like Biden.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Friday June 19 2020, @04:31PM
Sanders was never a real candidate. He is a DNC sheepdog to bring in more money. If he were serious he would still be running, as an independent.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 19 2020, @08:09PM
Redundant
:-) Clearly the democrats are offended! It must be out of frustration
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 19 2020, @01:11AM (2 children)
Go look at the Biden family history and educate yourself ...
There are two sides -- Democrook and Republocrook ...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 19 2020, @01:47AM (1 child)
One wants to give you free weed and the other wants you to marry your rapist. Gah they're all the same.
(Score: 2) by edIII on Friday June 19 2020, @04:55AM
Not going to send you to the grocery store, that's for sure. Certainly not to get my weed either.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 18 2020, @09:46PM
The first, second, and fourth seem straightforward enough. The one that is most questionable is the third one, and it is probably no coincidence it was placed there based on studies of how people read things and what they pay attention.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 19 2020, @01:25PM
Of course, political ads of all kinds can be worked around any direct "political" classification. Make a video ad for a truck, and then throw in a few comments on "your own hard work" and "as long as taxes are low" or "drill here and drill now for cheap gas". Voila, you claim to sell a truck but it's a conservative political ad. Or make a video ad for a truck, and then throw in a few comments on "built by organized labor", "used by the strong people in the Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craft Workers", and maybe "if the minimum wage was higher, maybe more good people could afford this fine product". Voila, you claim to sell a truck but it's a liberal political ad.
If anything, this makes political advertising worse because the users will have to pay more attention to realize they're being hit with propaganda. All of us like to think we're too smart to be tricked by that kind of thing, but we're all wrong. The best option is to stop using Facebook.
(Score: 3, Funny) by DannyB on Thursday June 18 2020, @07:21PM (11 children)
Wow!
If I had a Facebook account, I would be truly excited!
Is there a chemotherapy treatment for excessively low blood alcohol level?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by DeathMonkey on Thursday June 18 2020, @07:26PM (10 children)
How is that possible?
I've been repeatedly assured that Facebook in an unavoidable monopoly!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by SomeGuy on Thursday June 18 2020, @07:40PM (4 children)
It is in the same boat as not owning a smart phone. It is doable, but people look at you weird when they find out.
(Score: 2) by Kitsune008 on Thursday June 18 2020, @09:14PM (3 children)
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. :-)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 18 2020, @09:30PM (2 children)
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)
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
Alzheimer's is not forgetting to zip up ... it's forgetting to zip down.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday June 18 2020, @07:49PM
I've never had, and never will have Facebook. Nor Twitter. Not even once to try it.
When this infectious disease of a website first appeared, I realized how it would turn out. I remember the days of Usenet. Where spam was first invented. Human nature became apparent.
Is there a chemotherapy treatment for excessively low blood alcohol level?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by DannyB on Thursday June 18 2020, @07:53PM
I've been repeatedly assured that Microsoft is an unavoidable monopoly.
Yet I've never owned one single Windows PC. But plenty of Linux. And once long ago, Macs. IIci. PowerMac 7500, 7600.
(I use Windows at work, where I'm not responsible for maintaining it.)
Is there a chemotherapy treatment for excessively low blood alcohol level?
(Score: 2) by Dr Spin on Thursday June 18 2020, @08:40PM
It is a little known secret, but for some time now, Zuck has allowed people to block Facebook completely, not just the Russian propaganda and political ads, but the whole Shebang.
However, you may need to be over the age of 50 and a highly professional software person to do this. Or get your phone from 20 years ago out of the cupboard.
Warning: Opening your mouth may invalidate your brain!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 19 2020, @05:00AM (1 child)
How do you know, before you go to a website, whether it has FB trackers on it so you can choose to not go there?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 20 2020, @09:30PM
curl {} | grep -ie Facebook -ie fbcdn
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 18 2020, @07:28PM (4 children)
Wake me up when they let me turn off all adverts
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 18 2020, @07:50PM
If you dont eat your meat you cant have any pudding. How can you have any pudding if you dont eat your meat?
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday June 18 2020, @07:51PM (1 child)
Not a good idea.
Never waking up may be bad.
You might want to wake up when Trump starts a war with alien first contact during his 3rd term.
Is there a chemotherapy treatment for excessively low blood alcohol level?
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 18 2020, @10:44PM
You might want to wake up when Trump starts a war with alien first contact during his 3rd term.
You mean the Russian war the DNC promised us in 2017 if he was elected?
Or do you mean Syria doing the exact same thing Obama did?
Or do you mean the one with North Korea?
Or do you mean the one with Iran?
Maybe .... now get this.... just MAYBE he is not going to start a war?
If you want to look to 'blame'. Blame Hillary and Obama for taking out Libya and encouraging unrest in Egypt. The world apparently needed more of a shitstorm in Syria and actual slave markets. But in the words of Hillary "what does it matter any more".
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Thursday June 18 2020, @11:42PM
Easy, all you have to do is like Henry David Thoreau, go find yourself a Walden Pond. Might be harder today than in 1845, but still doable, maybe in the west or up in Canada. No Computers, no TV, no Radio, no phone, just peace and quiet of nature. Which of course is not very quiet.
https://americanliterature.com/author/henry-david-thoreau/book/walden-pond/summary [americanliterature.com]
"It is easier to fool someone than it is to convince them that they have been fooled" Mark Twain
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 18 2020, @08:39PM (15 children)
all the BLM horsefuckybullshit?
(Score: 0, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 18 2020, @08:56PM
No, are you racist or something?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 18 2020, @09:29PM (13 children)
No only ads with red triangles.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by aristarchus on Thursday June 18 2020, @09:42PM (12 children)
Like with the Juneteenth Rally in Tulsa, the Red Triangle is obviously intentional. Not to mention the Repugnican Convention in Florida on "Ax-handle Tuesday". I suspect it is Stephan Miller trolling from the White House. But, once the racists are reduced to trolling, we know they are now confined to the basement. And just today, Trump is tweeting about Republicans getting a shotgun blast to the face, which can only mean one thing: they are bringing back Cheney!!!
Oh, Facebook has a strict "no aristarchus submissions" policy. (Great, now some joker is going to open up a sockpuppet Facebook account using my actual phone number and maiden's mother name.)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 18 2020, @10:34PM (8 children)
Your maiden name is Hillary?
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 18 2020, @10:54PM (7 children)
No he means everyone should hide in their homes and do nothing. Because chaos is amazing. People getting killed and stores going under and fires are amazing! Can't get enough of that. Because somehow morons like that think that on the other end is glorious communism. Which has never been done correctly. Except they do not realize that the ones provoking them and giving them the ideas are the real ones who will be in charge. They murder them first. As they will quickly realize they have been sold a bill of goods. They would be in charge. They only needed the chance to make a difference! They were going to do it right *THIS TIME*.
The socialism experiment has failed we have the dead of 100million to prove it. But no they will get it right *THIS TIME*. Trust them they read a book or two on it! I have too https://www.amazon.com/Gulag-Archipelago-Experiment-Literary-Investigation/dp/0061253715 [amazon.com]
They think 1984 and Animal farm are books on what the republican want to do and they miss that it is a scathing review of what happens in communism and socialism. Tripping over each other to show how progressive they are. Reinventing terms because they know the old ones have baggage now. Everyone is equal but some are more equal than others. Black lives matters.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 18 2020, @11:27PM (5 children)
The socialism experiment has failed we have the dead of 100million to prove it.
So has the fascist experiment.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 19 2020, @12:12AM (4 children)
America is a fascinating place. In what parallel universe would a Biden gov't be considered 'socialist'?
To the rest of the world, the Democrats are centre-right.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 19 2020, @12:32AM (1 child)
Center-right-right. Don't use socialist spellings on SN! It will trigger the snowflakes who are afraid of being forced to get all gay married and having to use the metric system, and learn math.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 19 2020, @01:51AM
Sorry, in her Majesty's lands we use the traditional spelling derived from the Viking-infused Latin dialect known as Anglo-Norman French.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 19 2020, @08:47AM
By the rest of the world, you mean a handful of countries in Europe which amount to less than 10% of the world's population, right? And if we're being precise about the countries you consider to be "the rest of the world" it'd be more like less than 5% of the world.
And even within those negligibly small countries, it depends on the issues you're talking about. For instance Norway, and it's 5 million citizens, are one of those countries you're referencing. Did you know there that, on public, television they ran a series called Hjernevask [wikipedia.org]. It was about gender studies and related programs. Very progressive as you'd no doubt expect. Except Hjernevask means 'to brainwash' and the series was not only incredibly critical of the entire field, but was met with a universally positive reception that ultimately led to the cessation of funding for such programs in Norway. It's an awesome series by the way. It has links to the videos on the Wiki page.
However, such a thing would be framed as misogynistic or even Nazi propaganda or whatever sort of nonsense in America. Even corporate America has jumped on this bandwagon. YouTube has now, somewhat recently, decided to label the videos as containing "inappropriate content" requiring a login to view. No idea when that happened but it's new. Ultimately many democratic social views would not only be considered ultra far left in the "rest of the world", even that negligibly small chunk you're talking about when you say such things, but they would be considered dangerously extremist.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 19 2020, @08:54AM
Also, further irony. Your "rest of the world" is, in effect, equivalent to 'white people who agree with me'. In order to be a good progressive you're supposed to align with the 80% of the world and condemn whitey! The only problem is that that 80% of the world you're supposed to align with ranges the gamut between hates and laughs at your ideology. 白左 would be a fun search term for you. I'll help you get started here [wikipedia.org] so you needn't concern yourself about search results returning only those squiggly letters of the fascist racist misogynistic transphobic cis gendered squinty eyed nazis.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 19 2020, @12:56AM
How 'Communism' Brought Racial Equality To The South [npr.org]
How the Soviets Used Our Civil Rights Conflicts Against Us [slate.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 19 2020, @12:43AM
Yeah [redbubble.com] not [archive.is] Antifa [twitter.com]
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 19 2020, @02:42AM (1 child)
When literal Nazis are being given a green light by Trump, Pence, the entire GOP. . . racists are not being reduced or confined. This is not accidental. This is not normal.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 20 2020, @09:33PM
What do you expect when there are good people on both sides? /s
(Score: 2) by srobert on Friday June 19 2020, @07:48PM
There's an idea for a poll.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 20 2020, @02:10AM (1 child)
There is no Antifa! We surround you. We are inevitable. We are Anonymous. We oppose fascist fucktards. Expect us. You will be identified, Karen-ed, and de-platformmed, fired, ostracised, sent into the desert with the sins of humanity on your back as a scapegoat, and you will be happy to have a job! And, Boo! I have a bikelock! And a Milkshake! Be Afraid, be very afraid.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 20 2020, @02:37AM
Put down the bike lock, ari, or we will have to tase you.