Report: Facebook may ban political ads prior to November election

Social media giant Facebook is reportedly considering a ban on election-related advertisements in the days leading up to the November 2020 election, allegedly in the hopes of counteracting misleading campaign material before the critical presidential race comes to a head. 

"People familiar with the company’s thinking" told Bloomberg News about the alleged plan, though the measure is "still only being discussed and hasn’t yet been finalized," the outlet reported. 

Facebook has thus far taken a largely hands-off approach regarding political content on its site. Company founder Mark Zuckerberg famously said during Congressional testimony in October that his company would not censor political ads on the site even if they were false.

Facebook is currently in the midst of an advertising boycott, with dozens of major companies yanking ads from the site during the month of July in order to force Facebook to more thoroughly regulate offensive content on the site. 

Critics have claimed Facebook does not adequately censor hateful speech, though a company spokesman said this month that the website has "invest[ed] billions of dollars each year in people and technology to keep our platform safe."