Baby Pics ‘Too Strong for Facebook’: Social Media Giant Targets Pro-Lifers in New Ad Rules

By Calvin Freiburger
Life Site News

Facebook says its latest rules for advertising what it calls “political” content will promote transparency, but after a month of operation they are effectively handicapping many publishers, including LifeSiteNews.

Last month, the social media giant began requiring publishers to submit identification and mailing addresses in order to run advertisements (promotions to lists) of a “political” nature in the United States. Among the initial list of subjects deemed by Facebook to be “political” and, which will expand over time, are “abortion,” “civil rights,” “health,” and “values.” Facebook says the change is meant to prevent foreign actors from interfering in American elections.

Here are examples of ads now labelled by Facebook to be "political" and required to be displayed in this special format.

These verification requirements are however causing very lengthy delays for ad approvals and are far more extensive than what is summarized in the announcements. They have also caused many to complain about Facebook's labelling of reporting on non-political issues as "political" and therefore subject to Facebook's onerous new procedures and restrictions.

Rather than simply verifying a representative’s identity and a US-based headquarters or office, Facebook has requested a government-issued identification, personal address, and the last four Social Security Number digits for every member of an ad management team.

The company claims that all of this information is being handled by a third party and will be deleted after six weeks, though it has not provided LifeSiteNews with a means of verifying these assurances.

The new rules also place a special new “paid for” label at the top of "political" promotions, through which users can identify who is responsible for the ad, as well as the campaign budget behind it, the number of people who viewed it, and the age, location, and gender of its audience. Additionally, users will be able to report unlabeled ads they believe should be marked, after which the publisher (pending Facebook’s review of the complaint) will be banned from posting ads until it completes the verification process.

Most ads will be flagged through a combination of employee review and artificial intelligence. All “political” ads on Facebook or Instagram dated May 7, 2018 or later will be stored in a searchable archive for up to seven years.

Facebook product management director Rob Leathern claimed that the company “recognize[s] that news coverage of elections and important issues is distinct from advocacy or electoral ads, even if those news stories receive paid distribution on Facebook.” Despite such reassurances, however, the new system is already having consequences beyond its stated targets.

Facebook has already come under fire for blocking ads by LifeSiteNewsand other pro-lifers, as well as other forms of discrimination against pro-life, Christian, and conservative voices. In recent months Facebook has delayed the average wait time to approve LifeSiteNews ads from 12 hours to 72, and doubled the cost per donation received from ads deemed “political” from an average of $5.95 to $12 per donation click. 

Even as little as a year ago, approval for ads (promotions of particular articles) usually took minutes to an hour or two. “Now,” says LifeSite President Steve Jalsevac, “Facebook has made everything ‘political’ whereas we are an entirely issues-focused news service rather than a political one.”

More significantly, starting the week of Ireland’s May 25 abortion referendum, Facebook has rejected most of LifeSiteNews’ ads entirely.

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