Facebook keeps getting bigger as it fights off checks on its power

[The Verge RSS]

Author: Nick Statt

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
Just minutes before Facebook released its third quarter earnings this afternoon, Twitter dropped a mic at its feet: CEO Jack Dorsey made the surprise announcement that his social network will ban political advertising starting in November to “focus our efforts on the root problems, without the additional burden and complexity taking money brings.”

Dorsey’s position was clear. These types of ads are risky when combined with the influence of social networks, and letting them run rampant without any oversight is dangerous.

Internet political ads present entirely new challenges to civic discourse: machine learning-based optimization of messaging and micro-targeting, unchecked misleading information, and deep fakes. All at increasing...

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