Facebook ad policy challenged by false claim Republican Graham backs Green New Deal
Record ID:
1438645
Facebook ad policy challenged by false claim Republican Graham backs Green New Deal
- Title: Facebook ad policy challenged by false claim Republican Graham backs Green New Deal
- Date: 25th October 2019
- Summary: WASHINGTON DC, UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 23, 2019) (UNRESTRICTED POOL) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ- CONGRESSWOMAN FROM NEW YORK ASKING FACEBOOK CEO MARK ZUCKERBERG: "Could I run ads targeting Republicans in primaries saying that they voted for the Green New Deal?" (SOUNDBITE) (English) MARK ZUCKERBERG- FACEBOOK CEO, SAYING: "Sorry, can you repeat that?" (SOUNDBITE) (English) MARK ZUCKERBERG- FACEBOOK CEO SAYING: "Would I be able to run advertisements on Facebook targeting Republicans and primaries saying that they voted for the Green New Deal?" (SOUNDBITE) (English) ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ- CONGRESSWOMAN FROM NEW YORK ASKING FACEBOOK CEO MARK ZUCKERBERG: "I mean, if you're not fact checking political advertisements, I'm just trying to understand the bounds here. What's fair game? " (SOUNDBITE) (English) MARK ZUCKERBERG- FACEBOOK CEO SAYING: "I don't know the answer to that off the top of my head." (SOUNDBITE) (English) ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ- CONGRESSWOMAN FROM NEW YORK ASKING FACEBOOK CEO MARK ZUCKERBERG: "You don't know if I'll be able to do that?" Do you see a potential problem here with a complete lack of fact checking on political advertisements?" (SOUNDBITE) (English) MARK ZUCKERBERG- FACEBOOK CEO, SAYING: "Well, Congresswoman, I think lying is bad, and I think if you were to run an ad that had a lie, that would be bad. That's different from it being from it... from in our position. The right thing to do to prevent your constituents or people in an election from seeing that you had lied." (SOUNDBITE) (English) ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ- CONGRESSWOMAN FROM NEW YORK ASKING FACEBOOK CEO MARK ZUCKERBERG: "So we can, so you won't take down lies or you will take down lies? I think that's just a pretty simple yes or no...I'm not talking about spin. I'm talking about actual disinformation." (SOUNDBITE) (English) MARK ZUCKERBERG- FACEBOOK CEO, SAYING: "Congresswoman, yes, in most cases, in a democracy, I believe that people should be able to see for themselves what politicians that they may or may not vote for are saying." (SOUNDBITE) (English) ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ- CONGRESSWOMAN FROM NEW YORK ASKING FACEBOOK CEO MARK ZUCKERBERG: "So you won't take them down? You may flag that it's wrong, but you won't take it down?" (SOUNDBITE) (English) MARK ZUCKERBERG- FACEBOOK CEO, SAYING: "Congresswoman, it's, It depends on the context that it shows up...Organic posts, ads." GENERAL VIEW OF HEARING
- Embargoed: 8th November 2019 23:37
- Keywords: Lindsey Graham Donald Trump Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Mark Zuckerberg Facebook
- Location: WASHINGTON DC, UNITED STATES AND INTERNET
- City: WASHINGTON DC, UNITED STATES AND INTERNET
- Country: USA
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA002B2LKKZR
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS VIDEO PUBLISHED ON FACEBOOK (SHOTLIST #1) WHICH FALSELY DEPICTS SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM SUPPORTING "THE GREEN NEW DEAL" PROPOSED LEGISLATION
A left-leaning political group challenged Facebook's policy Friday (October 25) not to fact-check some political ads by running a spot that falsely claims Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has endorsed the Green New Deal, a plan by prominent Democrats.
Facebook Inc. has come under fire in recent weeks over its decision to not fact-check ads run by politicians. The new ad comes days after Green New Deal champion Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez grilled Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on whether his site would allow such an ad.
"Could I run ads targeting Republicans in primaries saying that they voted for the Green New Deal?," Ocasio-Cortez asked the tech executive at a congressional hearing on Wednesday.
"Congresswoman, I don't know the answer to that off the top of my head," Zuckerberg replied. "I think probably."
Facebook has drawn criticism over its ad policy from Democratic candidates running in the 2020 presidential election such as former Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Elizabeth Warren.
Last week, Zuckerberg said Facebook did not want to stifle political expression.
Facebook spokesman Tom Channick said that since the new ad came from a political action group, rather than a politician, it was eligible for review by the company's third-party fact-checking partners.
"We have sent it to them for review," Channick told Reuters, adding that the ad would be removed if found to be false.
The new ad cycles through archive footage of Republicans such as former Presidents Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon before splicing together two real videos of Graham to make it look as if he said, "We believe in the Green New Deal." It also mentions the false endorsement in the ad text.
Senator Graham's office said it was aware of the ad and confirmed the senator opposes the Green New Deal, a proposal championed by Ocasio-Cortez that would eliminate U.S. greenhouse gas emissions within a decade.
Graham has previously called the proposal a "disaster" and said it would "destroy the American economy."
Adriel Hampton, treasurer of the group behind the ad, The Really Online Lefty League, said he came up with the idea to draw attention to the problems around false claims in online political advertising. He has spent $50 to show the ad online.
"There appears to be little to nothing to stop serious election manipulation through false advertising, and that's bad for our democracy," Hampton said in an email to Reuters.
Ahead of the November 2020 election, lawmakers have also expressed concerns over the spread of misinformation through manipulated video, particularly deepfakes, which use machine learning to create realistic content where a person appears to say or do something they did not.
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