Facebook Says No To Ads That Undermine US Election Results

Facebook Inc FB said Wednesday it is prohibiting advertisements that undermine the outcome of the upcoming presidential elections.

What Happened: The Mark Zuckerberg-led company said in a statement that the advertising restrictions would be in place between Oct. 27 and Nov. 3.

The latest policy change targets any ads that question voting methodology, delegitimize any lawful method of voting or voting tabulation, or make claims of widespread voter fraud, as per Facebook.

The social media behemoth said ads related to the United States census will also face restrictions if they portray participation in the process as useless or meaningless.

Facebook Director of Product Management Rob Leathern said the new advertising policies are applicable with immediate effect on both Facebook and Instagram.

Meanwhile, Twitter Inc TWTR claimed it removed 130 accounts Tuesday that originated in Iran and were disrupting public discourse on the presidential debate, CNET reported.

Based on intel provided by the @FBI, last night we removed approximately 130 accounts that appeared to originate in Iran. They were attempting to disrupt the public conversation during the first 2020 US Presidential Debate.

— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) October 1, 2020

Why It Matters: Last month, Zuckerberg announced the company would block new political and issue ads during the final week of the presidential campaign.

Alphabet Inc GOOGL GOOG and Facebook together control 77.6% of political ad spending in the U.S.

Political spending is expected to hit $6.89 billion in the 2019-20 season, as per eMarketer.

Trump brought up the issue of alleged election fraud in Tuesday’s presidential debate and has also wrangled with social media platforms by making similar allegations online. 

Price Action: Facebook traded nearly 0.4% higher at $263 in the after-hours session after closing mostly unchanged.