Technology

Hillary Clinton Condemns Facebook For Not Policing Political Ads

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Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned Facebook for not policing political ads in a Wednesday tweet.

The failed presidential candidate’s tweet came as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg faces backlash for defending the tech giant’s policy of not fact-checking political ads the same way it fact-checks other content in an Oct. 17 interview with The Washington Post.

“Facebook’s decision to allow false information in political advertisements is appalling. Voters are being confronted by millions of pieces of misinformation. A world where up is down and down is up is a world where democracy can’t thrive,” Clinton tweeted.

Facebook’s decision to allow false information in political advertisements is appalling.

Voters are being confronted by millions of pieces of misinformation.

A world where up is down and down is up is a world where democracy can’t thrive.

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) October 30, 2019

Facebook came under fire for not policing inauthentic advertisements, posts, groups and pages before and after the 2016 presidential election, which some commentators and pundits argue resulted in President Donald Trump’s success.

“We should all care about how social media platforms play a part in our democratic process. Because unless it’s addressed it will happen again. The midterms are in 8 months. We owe it to our democracy to get this right, and fast,” Clinton tweeted in 2018.

We should all care about how social media platforms play a part in our democratic process. Because unless it’s addressed it will happen again. The midterms are in 8 months. We owe it to our democracy to get this right, and fast. https://t.co/aM3pRrZW4J

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) February 27, 2018

Zuckerberg also faced heat from House Financial Service Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters for the policy during an Oct. 23 congressional hearing.

“Are you telling me … you plan on doing no fact-checking on political ads?” Waters asked the Facebook CEO.

“Our policy is that we do not fact-check politicians’ speech,” Zuckerberg said. “We believe that in a democracy, it is important that people can see for themselves what politicians are saying.”