facebook political ads

State Actions on Political Advertising – Meta to Appeal $24.6 Million Washington State Penalty for Facebook Political Ad Violations

By David Oxenford|2022-11-02T11:19:33-05:00November 2nd, 2022|Legal News|

Any media platform that accepts ads for political races and ballot issues in Washington State is aware of the state’s detailed rules that govern all forms of political advertising. Digital platforms, in particular, are concerned by state rules that require the platforms to maintain and make available to the public not only the information required... Continue Reading…

As More Political Advertising Moves Online, State Laws Provide the Regulatory Framework for Disclosures and Recordkeeping

By David Oxenford|2022-09-29T10:47:25-05:00September 29th, 2022|Legal News|

In a recent state court decision, a King County judge in Washington State concluded that Facebook violated state political disclosure rules by not publicly providing information about the sale of political ads relating to state elections and ballot issues, as required by state law. While there does not yet appear to be a written decision... Continue Reading…

Facebook to Reject New Political Ads the Week Before the November Election – Why Broadcasters Can’t Do That

By David Oxenford|2022-08-25T10:32:40-05:00August 25th, 2022|Legal News|

Facebook will disable “new” political ads the week before this year’s November mid-term election (see its post on this policy here), just as many broadcast stations will be struggling with commercial inventory issues, trying to get last minute political ads on the air without having to dump all of their regular commercial advertisers who will... Continue Reading…

This Week in Regulation for Broadcasters: May 29, 2021 to June 4, 2021

By David Oxenford and Adam Sandler|2021-06-06T09:51:52-05:00June 6th, 2021|Legal News|

Here are some of the regulatory developments of significance to broadcasters from the last week, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations. Because of the Supreme Court’s decision earlier this year upholding the Commission’s 2017 relaxation of certain media ownership rules, the... Continue Reading…

Reports that Facebook Will End Policy of Not Censoring Politician’s Posts – How Other Communications Platforms are Regulated on Political Speech

By David Oxenford|2021-06-04T09:49:29-05:00June 4th, 2021|Legal News|

According to press reports (see this story in Verge and this one in the Washington Post), Facebook will end its policy of not subjecting posts by elected officials to the same level of scrutiny by its Oversight Board that it applies to other users of its platform. Facebook’s announced policy has been that the newsworthiness... Continue Reading…

Facebook Defends Not Censoring Political Ads – Looking at the Differences In Regulation of Political Speech on Different Communications Platforms

By David Oxenford|2020-06-12T11:25:18-05:00June 12th, 2020|Legal News|

The question about what to do with the protections offered by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act took another turn this week, when Joe Biden suggested that online platforms needed to take responsibility for the content posted on them and correct misinformation in those ads. That position is seemingly the opposite of the President’s... Continue Reading…

Facebook Criticized for Not Censoring Candidate Ads – Even Though Congress Requires No Censorship from Broadcasters

By David Oxenford|2019-10-17T09:35:26-05:00October 17th, 2019|Legal News|

In recent weeks, Facebook has been criticized for adopting a policy of not censoring advertising and other content posted on its platforms by political candidates. While Facebook apparently will review content whose veracity is challenged when posted by anyone else, it made an exception for posts by political candidates – and has received much heat... Continue Reading…