KTLA

Facebook, Google quietly extend their bans on political ads

A picture taken on October 1, 2019 in Lille shows the logos of mobile apps Facebook and Google displayed on a tablet. (Denis Charlet/ AFP via Getty Images)

Facebook and Google have quietly extended their bans on political advertising beyond their planned one-week post-election moratorium, as President Trump and his supporters continue to use the platforms to allege — without evidence — that President-elect Joe Biden’s victory is invalid.

Facebook said in an email to advertisers that they should “expect this temporary pause to last another month.” However, “there may be an opportunity to resume these ads sooner,” the social media giant said.


The extensions come as online momentum builds around Trump’s unfounded claims that widespread voter fraud enabled his Democratic opponent to “steal the election,” which he said he would otherwise have won.

Biden’s staff has said that Facebook, in particular, is not doing enough to prevent the “Stop the Steal” narrative from gaining traction and that the platform has failed to stamp out calls for violence. On Monday, Biden campaign spokesman Bill Russo tweeted that Facebook was “shredding the fabric of our democracy.”

Read the full story at LATimes.com.