Facebook makes exception to political ad ban for Georgia runoffs

Ads about other social issues, elections, and politics will continue to be banned from the site

Published: December 16, 2020 7:24am

Updated: December 16, 2020 12:54pm

Facebook will on Wednesday allow political ads for the Georgia runoff elections but said the social media site will continue to enforce ban posts intended to "delegitimizes" the contests.

"We will continue to prohibit any ad that includes content debunked by third-party fact-checkers or the Georgia runoff elections," the company said Tuesday in a blog post.

Early voting for the Jan. 5 elections begins this week. The races will determine which party controls the Senate.

Facebook also said the it has developed a system to allow advertisers to access voters in Georgia, while still blocking ads that target locations outside the state. 

Facebook and Google decided ahead of the 2020 presidential election to limit political ads on their platforms to reduce what it's fact-checkers have flagged as disinformation. Google begin allowing political ads on its platform again last week, it is unclear when Facebook will follow suit.

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