We all know very well that 2018 will be an election year in the United States Congress. Fearing a wave of political ads linked to the interests of countries such as Russia, hence, the social network giant Facebook has now decided to adopt an extraordinary solution simply to prevent this problem.
2018 will be an election year in the United States Congress. Fearing a wave of political ads linked to the interests of countries such as Russia, the social network giant Facebook has decided to adopt an “analogue” solution to prevent the problem: it will send postcards with validation codes to check if the advertiser is even in the United States or not.
We all know very well that it is a growing concern. As in January, the social network giant Facebook recognized that social networks can have a major impact on elections or political discussions and thus influence democracy. In the case of the United States, political engagement groups believe that fake news and targeted Facebook ads helped elect Donald Trump as president of the country.
What worries most is the involvement of foreign groups that use social networks to manipulate elections and serve obscure interests. From an extensive research, the social network giant Facebook itself found that Russian organizations created more than 80,000 posts about the United States elections in 2016 that together would have reached 126 million Americans.
With postcards, the social network giant Facebook hopes to lessen the influence of these groups. It will work like this: every time a commercial is created on the social network mentioning a candidate, a card with a validation code will be sent to the physical address of the person in charge. Without the code, the campaign will not serve or get start.
The U.S. law prohibits foreign organizations from making contributions through internal election campaigns. Hence, postcards shall serve as a verification mechanism. The goal is to check if the person responsible for the ad is based in the country or not.
Katie Harbath, global director of policy programs at Facebook, acknowledges that the move will not solve the problem of manipulative content. Codes can be passed on to external groups in some way, for example. In addition, ads can be created to promote certain candidates without mentioning them.
In any case, Facebook says that this is the best solution found to hinder the placement of political ads sneaked by foreign groups. The company did not say whether the measure will be adopted in other countries, nor when sending the cards will begin in the United States, but confirmed that the method will be activated before the congressional elections scheduled for November.
Maybe it’s not the only initiative. Last month, that the social network giant Facebook bought Confirm.io, a startup that specializes in biometric identification. The company’s technology can also assist in validating the identity of advertisers.
We all know very well that it is a growing concern. As in January, the social network giant Facebook recognized that social networks can have a major impact on elections or political discussions and thus influence democracy. In the case of the United States, political engagement groups believe that fake news and targeted Facebook ads helped elect Donald Trump as president of the country.
What worries most is the involvement of foreign groups that use social networks to manipulate elections and serve obscure interests. From an extensive research, the social network giant Facebook itself found that Russian organizations created more than 80,000 posts about the United States elections in 2016 that together would have reached 126 million Americans.
With postcards, the social network giant Facebook hopes to lessen the influence of these groups. It will work like this: every time a commercial is created on the social network mentioning a candidate, a card with a validation code will be sent to the physical address of the person in charge. Without the code, the campaign will not serve or get start.
The U.S. law prohibits foreign organizations from making contributions through internal election campaigns. Hence, postcards shall serve as a verification mechanism. The goal is to check if the person responsible for the ad is based in the country or not.
Katie Harbath, global director of policy programs at Facebook, acknowledges that the move will not solve the problem of manipulative content. Codes can be passed on to external groups in some way, for example. In addition, ads can be created to promote certain candidates without mentioning them.
In any case, Facebook says that this is the best solution found to hinder the placement of political ads sneaked by foreign groups. The company did not say whether the measure will be adopted in other countries, nor when sending the cards will begin in the United States, but confirmed that the method will be activated before the congressional elections scheduled for November.
Maybe it’s not the only initiative. Last month, that the social network giant Facebook bought Confirm.io, a startup that specializes in biometric identification. The company’s technology can also assist in validating the identity of advertisers.
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