2.2 Million Ads Removed From Facebook for Violating “Voter Interference Policies”

As of today, Facebook has removed over 120,000 of its posts for violating its “voter interference policies” ahead of the US election.

A spokesperson told Business Insider that Facebook has also rejected over 2.2 million ads because certain organizations do not have the authority to run electoral or political ads, which violates the platform’s rules on social issues, elections, and politics.

According to the French newspaper Journal du Dimanche, on Saturday, Facebook’s vice president of global affairs and communications Nick Clegg said that Facebook had partnered with 70 specialized media outlets, including five in France to verify the information.

In comments first reported by Agence France Presse, Clegg said that Facebook’s AI moderators “made it possible to delete billions of posts and fake accounts, even before they are reported by users.”

The news comes after Facebook received backlash on how they handled misinformation ahead of elections.

On October 12, new research suggested that misinformation on Facebook was just as popular during the 2016 election when fake accounts from Russia purchased ads to try to manipulate voters.

Facebook announced earlier this month that they would ban all political ads that falsely claimed victory after the polls close on November 3. They will also ban new political ads a week before the election and ban all political ads indefinitely after the election is over.