Former Microsoft Executive Vice President Bob Herbold addresses the future of news sharing on social media.<\/p>\n
Facebook says it’s lifting a ban on political ads starting Thursday.<\/p>\n
The move by the social media giant will bring an end a self-imposed ban initiated immediately after last November’s election that Facebook said was aimed at slowing the spread of misinformation in the aftermath of a contentious presidential contest.<\/p>\n
CONSERVATIVE ATTORNEY GENERALS CALL FOR PROBE OF FACEBOOK, TWITTER, GOOGLE <\/strong><\/p>\n “We’re resuming political, electoral and social issue ads in the United States on Thursday, March 4,” Facebook said in a statement Wednesday. “We put this temporary ban in place after the November 2020 election to avoid confusion or abuse following Election Day. Unlike other platforms, we require authorization and transparency not just for political and electoral ads, but also for social issue ads, and our systems do not distinguish between these categories.”<\/p>\n Facebook noted, “We’ve heard a lot of feedback about this and learned more about political and electoral ads during this election cycle. As a result, we plan to use the coming months to take a closer look at how these ads work on our service to see where further changes may be merited.”<\/p>\n The controversial ban was only partially lifted to allow for political ads ahead of Georgia’s twin Senate runoff elections, which were held on Jan. 5.<\/p>\n