If it's important that political ads be fact checked, but it's not technically or financially feasible for Facebook to do so, maybe they just shouldn't run political ads?
Exactly. In 2016 you could fill a book with each of the two candidate's lies. For 2020 the Democrats don't even have a candidate yet and they have all lied.
Honesty is a virtue for a reason: it is exceedingly rare and hard to find in a world that refuses to deal with truth.
That's avoiding the question. Is it important that entities taking money to distribute political messages try to prevent false advertising, or isn't it?
If it's not important, then Facebook is fine — and newspapers, TV and radio can relax their fact checkers as well. If it is important, then the fact that it's allegedly infeasible for Facebook is not a defense.
You or I can buy ads. I have no affiliation. I’m not even registered for any party. I’ve voted for a cross section of candidates.
Are they going to vet all these ads? What if I’m in Mexico, can I place an ad to target US likely voters with a pro-USMCA candidate? What if I belong to a Union and buy pro union ads but don’t bring up a candidate but my union endorses some candidate?
Do we put a minimum on ad buys so that there are fewer to vet? Maybe the minimum is $20,000? Does that sound democratic?
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If it's important that political ads be fact checked, but it's not technically or financially feasible for Facebook to do so, maybe they just shouldn't run political ads?
What politician runs a campaign on telling the truth? Virtually none. Those that try get buried fast.
If we don’t demand candidates themselves tell the truth, how can we ask ads to be truthful from those same campaigns.
In any case it’d be tilting at windmills.
Exactly. In 2016 you could fill a book with each of the two candidate's lies. For 2020 the Democrats don't even have a candidate yet and they have all lied.
Honesty is a virtue for a reason: it is exceedingly rare and hard to find in a world that refuses to deal with truth.
That's avoiding the question. Is it important that entities taking money to distribute political messages try to prevent false advertising, or isn't it?
If it's not important, then Facebook is fine — and newspapers, TV and radio can relax their fact checkers as well. If it is important, then the fact that it's allegedly infeasible for Facebook is not a defense.
You or I can buy ads. I have no affiliation. I’m not even registered for any party. I’ve voted for a cross section of candidates.
Are they going to vet all these ads? What if I’m in Mexico, can I place an ad to target US likely voters with a pro-USMCA candidate? What if I belong to a Union and buy pro union ads but don’t bring up a candidate but my union endorses some candidate?
Do we put a minimum on ad buys so that there are fewer to vet? Maybe the minimum is $20,000? Does that sound democratic?
Most of these questions needn’t be hypothetical, since there are already regulations regarding political ads: https://www.fec.gov/help-candidates-and-committees/making-di...