Do you also think the US army should stop running recruitment ads targeting teens? What about BP advertisements which are really just to get political support?

What is political propaganda is a very… political question.

> What is political propaganda is a very… political question.

Good thing that's not the issue here. The issue is where it comes from. It can be political- I don't like that it's foreign. I don't think freedom of speech means letting known foreign propaganda run hog wild on your platforms and control your information.

This thread was about any political propaganda on Facebook, but if you want to narrow down the discussion...

Some of us are old enough to remember when the US Intelligence community lied through NYTimes and NPR to drag us into the Iraq war. (Also the first Golf war. Also the Vietnam war.)

If you only care about foreign propaganda you’re still going to have a lot of evil done. And given that the US is the worlds last super power our own internal propaganda machine is pretty important.

>Do you also think the US army should stop running recruitment ads targeting teens? What about BP advertisements which are really just to get political support?

I can't speak for the previous commenter, but I do not understand the implied complexity of bringing up those two examples. I would absolutely agree with removing them, just as much as removing propaganda ads from Chinese state media.

Me too, I just don’t know if everyone else reading connects those dots.

I agree, but sadly deeper pockets have always meant louder voice.

That does not mean we should offer megaphones to the most powerful, does it?

It does for the megaphone salesmen.

capitalism dictates that we should offer it to the ones with enough capital to spare, nothing we should do about it then

Right. Ads should be limited to selling actual products or services.

Is selling products or services not political propaganda in its own way?

“Visit Thailand” is both selling services and propaganda. “Russian war is Ok” is a different kind of propaganda. It’s easy to see the difference between the two and online ad platforms should be able to make a reasonable distinction in most cases.

No it couldn't make an easy distinction. Let's suppose someone sells stickers. A "Russian War Is Okay" sticker could be easily seen as propaganda. But expression often not direct. How about a simple white Z design?[0] Services and propaganda intertwine. Not that I'd like to defend those who profit from war. But content moderation is a really hard problem.

[0] https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=z+russia

>“Russian war is Ok” is a different kind of propaganda. It’s easy to see the difference between the two

As an American company, sure. I'm not sure it's that easy if you consider yourself a global company. There is support (or at least acceptance) for this invasion, including parts of Ukraine.

Yes. All of those are products or services, and therefore should be allowed to advertise.

Okay, and they're all political, depending on who you ask. What type of political ad do you want to see banned, which isn't a product or service?

The political ad that justifies genocide of a sovereign nation?

We can close the door on free speech now that we have the numbers.

Free speech does not mean anyone should offer a megaphone to some private entity (especially non-individual ones).

It's up to Twitter and Facebook to decide if they want such messages amplified on their platform and to earn money for that.

Or we can make these platform utilities but then, we could also make ads illegal in public spaces (I can speak freely when I take the subway, but I'm not allowed to yell advertisements, and it's fine!).

> I'm not allowed to yell advertisements

Yes you are...

> Free speech does not mean ...

Just be honest and admit that you are pro-censorship in this particular case.

Just more evidence that advertising is a huge net-negative on the world and should be abolished as far as I'm concerned.