Meta announced Tuesday that it is extending its restriction on political ads until later in the week, though it did not specify which day the ban would be lifted.
When asked for more information, a Meta spokesperson pointed TechCrunch to the announcement about the company working to “protect the integrity of elections on Facebook and Instagram.”
Meta initially announced there would be a ban on new political ads from October 29 until Election Day, and implemented a similar policy in 2020 and 2022 because candidates might not have enough time to “contest new claims made in ads,” Axios reported. The outlet reported that Meta is extending its ban to curb any misinformation that might spread while votes are still being counted.
Not all political ads are banned, however, and those that ran before October 29 at least once will still be allowed on Meta platforms, though will have little capacity to make changes to the ads, CNBC reported.
Social media has once again become its own battleground during the election, and companies are trying to prevent a repeat of the 2020 election chaos, where misinformation was able to spread like wildfire. At the same time, there is an uphill battle: Tech layoffs saw an erosion of trust and safety teams, while the rise of generative AI has contributed to the increased spread of AI deepfakes used to spread false election information.
Meta is not the only social giant taking precautions: Google announced it would also pause election ads in the U.S. until after the polls closed. Elon Musk’s X, however, announced last year it would once again run election ads and did not pause them during the election. The news comes as CNBC also reports that political ad spending has topped nearly $1 billion.
