We posed as 100 Senators to run ads on Facebook. Facebook approved all of them

Re:We posed as 100 Senators to run ads on Facebook. Facebook... by taurath on Tuesday October 30, 2018 @07:35PM (#18342153)

If Facebook is to be the public square, then it needs all the protections and consequences that come with it. You can’t say you’re a senator on a TV ad - that’s impersonating an elected official which is a plenty reasonable curb on free speech - just as you can’t walk around with a police officers uniform. There is SOME limit to speech in terms of fraud.

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Re:We posed as 100 Senators to run ads on Facebook. Facebook... by jdminhbg on Tuesday October 30, 2018 @07:40PM (#18342175)

That's fine, but it depends on the value of you in "You can't say you're a senator." Is Vice liable for fraud here? Facebook?

And don't forget, the OP is responding to GP proposing simply banning political ads on Facebook altogether, not simply fraudulent ones.

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Re:We posed as 100 Senators to run ads on Facebook. Facebook... by tracker1 on Tuesday October 30, 2018 @07:45PM (#18342205)

Fraud is already a crime. And in most cases, prosecution comes after a crime is committed. Forcing independent organizations to pre-police is generally a bad idea. It's a good idea for them to do it, it's a bad idea to use threat of force (government) to do.

In the end, I do know several third party candidates that had a lot of trouble posting genuine ads... so there's a bit of a problem all around.

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Re:We posed as 100 Senators to run ads on Facebook. Facebook... by azernik on Tuesday October 30, 2018 @07:47PM (#18342213)

> Forcing independent organizations to pre-police is generally a bad idea.

It's worked pretty well for discriminatory housing ads.

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Re:We posed as 100 Senators to run ads on Facebook. Facebook... by true_religion on Tuesday October 30, 2018 @08:14PM (#18342359)

Because you can tell from the ad choice that it is discrinatory, and you cannot abet a crime knowingly.

With political ads? What is the crime being committed? If it is fraud, then we make it illegal to place an ad without rendering your ID, like with a bank account.

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Re:We posed as 100 Senators to run ads on Facebook. Facebook... by tracker1 on Tuesday October 30, 2018 @08:26PM (#18342428)

How so? Is craigslist required to pre-screen housing ads? I don't think so. The ads themselves are illegal, but there's no legal requirement to pre-screen that I'm aware of.

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Re:We posed as 100 Senators to run ads on Facebook. Facebook... by azernik on Tuesday October 30, 2018 @11:40PM (#18343164)

Online outlets have a specific exemption for user-created content (https://www.eff.org/issues/cda230/legal); print outlets do, indeed, have to pre-screen ads and that's worked very well.

Even for tech companies, that exemption is limited; Craigslist got an exemption, but Roommates.com didn't because of the level to which its platform actively encouraged discriminating on prohibited categories.

Facebook is even now being pursued by HUD over its own tools allowing housing ads to be targeted by race, gender, ZIP code, or disability. https://www.npr.org/2018/08/19/640002304/hud-hits-facebook-f...

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Re:We posed as 100 Senators to run ads on Facebook. Facebook... by dogma1138 on Tuesday October 30, 2018 @08:28PM (#18342432)

>Forcing independent organizations to pre-police is generally a bad idea. It's a good idea for them to do it, it's a bad idea to use threat of force (government) to do.

The financial industry as well as many others say hi.

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Re:We posed as 100 Senators to run ads on Facebook. Facebook... by taurath on Tuesday October 30, 2018 @08:00PM (#18342287)

That you need to ask the question sort of implies that there is 0 value to Facebook in catching that they were defrauded - if thats right, then there's nothing wrong with regulation. If Facebook doesn't have the ability to determine who is running ads, then I agree with the GP that political ads should be banned on Facebook altogether.

I'm sorry, we make people show ID to buy cigarettes and beer - mass political advertising needs SOME sort of regulation.

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Re:We posed as 100 Senators to run ads on Facebook. Facebook... by IncRnd on Tuesday October 30, 2018 @10:22PM (#18342863)

The ads never ran. There was no fraud, since was no intent to earn money from Facebook.

Lying, in and of itself, is not illegal. While that may be unfortunate, that is also true. So to speak :)

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