Should Facebook run political adverts containing lies?

ACCORDING TO ONE of the great myths of American politics, George Washington could not tell a lie. No politician since has felt such compunction. Slandering opponents has been part of the political playbook since at least the 1800 election, when John Adams’ campaign accused Thomas Jefferson of being “the son of a half-breed Indian squaw, sired by a Virginia mulatto father.” Given this, last month’s controversy over Facebook’s refusal to take down a Donald Trump ad slandering Joe Biden might seem strange. In response, Elizabeth Warren published an (untrue) ad on Facebook suggesting that Mr Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO, had endorsed Mr Trump. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a democratic representative from New York, joined in the trolling, asking Mr Zuckerberg whether she would be permitted to run ads saying that Republican candidates had voted for the Green New Deal. Mr Zuckerberg went on the defensive, presenting Facebook as a champion of freedom of expression.

Both sides have engaged in overblown rhetoric and muddled thinking. This is a problem, given the importance of digital advertising in modern politics. Advertising Analytics, a political advertising research firm, says that digital ads account for 57.5% of tracked ads by presidential candidates so far this cycle, with over half of that going to Facebook.

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