U.S. House of Representative Speaker Nancy Pelosi is taking aim at the largest social media outlet, according to reports from Reuters and other sources.
She is claiming that Facebook’s temporary ban on political ads caused election misinformation, thereby potentially helping Republicans win House seats.
Pelosi said late last week during a news conference, “I’m not a big fan of Facebook. I don’t know what they have been doing, but I know they’ve been part of the problem, all along.”
Those comments came after the company announced on Wednesday that it plans to temporarily continue its “pause” on ads regarding national political and social issues.
Facebook issued a blog post which reads in part, “The temporary pause for ads about politics and social issues in the U.S. continues to be in place as part of our ongoing efforts to protect the election.”
It went on to say, “Advertisers can expect this to last another month, though there may be an opportunity to resume these ads sooner.”
Social media giant Facebook is extending its temporary ban on political ads across the platform. https://t.co/XlqqxsO2w1
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) November 12, 2020
The social media company has not provided information on when the policy, which has been in effect since polls closed on Nov. 3, may be lifted.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee says Facebook’s action works against Democratic Senate candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, who will face runoffs in Georgia in January.
Scott Fairchild, who serves as executive director of the committee, argues, “Organic disinformation is the actual problem on these platforms, and continuing to ban ads is now actively harmful to organizations working to inform Georgia’s diverse voters about the January runoffs.”
He goes on to say that the ad bans represent voter suppression while benefitting Republican senators.
With that in mind, Fairchild is asking that Facebook again allow political ads on its platform in Georgia, through the runoffs in January.