Facebook and other social media platforms have been coming under scrutiny from governments and regulators on both sides of the Atlantic. While there are concerns about content being shared on the various platforms that can impact political campaigns what is probably more concerning is how social networks handle political ads.
Elizabeth Warren is currently a candidate for the US Presidential elections in 2020. She posted recently on Twitter about an experiment she and her team conducted to see how Facebook would handle clearly false ads. The results are quite disturbing:
Trump’s campaign is apparently spending $1 million a week on Facebook ads:
There have been calls from several governments, including some voices in the US one, to regulate Facebook and other social media platforms a lot more heavily, though it is unlikely to happen in the short term.
The upcoming US Presidential campaign will be fought, at least partially, via the social media networks and platforms.