Why Facebook’s Blocking of New Political Ads May Fall Short

To limit voter misinformation ahead of November’s election, Facebook said this week that it would block new political ads from appearing on its site in the week before Election Day.

It was a sweeping action by the social network, which is used by millions of voters. But just how effective could such a move be in minimizing confusion?

The answer: likely not very effective.

That’s because political ads on Facebook are just one piece of content on the social network; political misinformation also flourishes in messages that people post and in discussions in private Facebook Groups. Facebook is not tackling those areas as part of the changes it announced this week.

Political ads have also been on the rise on Facebook already. Many of those ads are likely to remain online before Election Day because the company is not removing existing promotions.

At the same time, some new political ads may slip onto the site because the social network has sometimes had difficulty identifying which ads should be categorized as political, researchers said.