Social media platform provider Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) has decided to prohibit the display of political advertisements in the week ahead of the November 3rd presidential election. The decision will not have much impact on the top line of the company but has angered both the Democrats and Republicans.
Despite the harsh criticism by the US President Donald Trump and the tech rout in the US financial markets last week, Facebook managed to close the Friday trading session almost flat at $281.40.
The Menlo Park, California-based Facebook, has decided to suspend political advertisements, albeit for a narrow time frame. The ban is applicable only to political advertisements submitted a week before the election, implying political advertisements can be submitted any time before October 27th.
Furthermore, along with the prohibition, Facebook stated that it would connect any post made by a candidate trying to proclaim victory before the definitive results are declared to Reuters and the National Election Pool.
Until a few days before, the company’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg was stubborn about permitting political advertisements on Facebook and Instagram, irrespective of whether a candidate lies or distributes false information. Notably, other social media companies such as Pinterest and Twitter have already prohibited political advertisements on their platforms.
Facebook also stated that it would remove posts on the social network that intend to dissuade people from voting by alleging they will get coronavirus infection if they show up at the poll station. As for other posts that “might use Covid-19 to discourage voting,” Facebook stated that it would affix a link to “authoritative information” about COVID-19. Zuckerberg, on his Facebook page, has stated that the company will limit advertisements that utilize the COVID-19 pandemic to deter voting.
Shortly, user-presented posts highlighting the COVID-19 scenario to restrain voting will still be permitted on Facebook, unless they categorically state that a person will get infected by a coronavirus in case of a visit to the polling booths. Nevertheless, nobody will be able to purchase paid advertisements to broadcast the message.
Any post intending to discredit the outcome of the election or legalized voting methods, including voting by email, will still be permitted but will be marked with additional info about voting.
Zuckerberg also stated that the company would amend its guidelines to limit posts that encourage violence or suggest causing physical harm by attacking election officials.
In his Facebook post, Zuckerberg said, “I believe our democracy is strong enough to withstand this challenge and deliver a free and fair election — even if it takes time for every vote to be counted. We’ve voted during global pandemics before. We can do this. But it’s going to take a concerted effort by all of us — political parties and candidates, election authorities, the media, and social networks, and ultimately voters as well — to live up to our responsibilities.”
Even though the decision made by Facebook falls in line with other social media platform providers, still, harsh criticism is anticipated from Trump and other politicians. That will keep the stock volatile in the days ahead.
Technically, the stock has broken the resistance at 210. A formidable resistance is anticipated only near 320 levels. The MACD indicator is rising, while the stock is trading above its 50-day moving average. Therefore, we are expecting the stock to remain in an uptrend in the days ahead.
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