Facebook To Allow Users To Block Political Ads In Idaho
We aren't even in the real political season of 2020 but you can jump on social media sites and be flooded with political posts and opinions. I'm not outspoken online with my political views. I use social media to post about my family and funny pictures and usually my Facebook friends are the same. So, I decided to check my Facebook page and count how many of the first ten posts were in any way about political or social issues. Six of the first ten posts were either straight up political or had a hint of it. Only one of them was a funny political meme. The political posting is going to continue this year and will grow as we near the election in November.
Facebook is looking to ease the political fatigue by allowing users to begin blocking political posts from their social media feeds. Mark Zuckerberg announced this week that the tool will be available to many starting now and expanding to more people over the next few weeks and will cover ads with a 'paid for by' disclaimer. The move is an effort on the part of the social media giant to encourage voter turnout and that proper and truthful political stories are shared through the site. Even if you choose to block political ads, you will still see reminders to vote and it appears political shares from friends will show up on your timeline according to Zuckerberg in an article on USA Today.
The blocking of political ads also applies to Instagram users. Twitter incorporated a ban on political ads last year after recognizing the importance of sharing only verified content and that vetting content wouldn't be enough. You can block specific ad topics in your Facebook settings, clicking the ads tab and selecting the topics in the 'Hide Ad Topics'. That option may not be available to you right now until they roll out the feature to all accounts.