Beginning today, Facebook users in the U.S. will have the option to “turn off” all political advertising on the platform. The company made the controversial decision not to fact-check or otherwise moderate political ads last year, but the new feature will give users more control over what they see—at least for users who decide to flip the new setting to “off.”
Facebook made the announcement Tuesday in a blog post and an op-ed from Mark Zuckerberg. The post noted that the company originally announced the new option in January but would now add it to the platform as it prepares for the 2020 U.S. presidential election. The option will appear immediately for some U.S. users, rolling out more broadly in the next few weeks. The option to disable political ads will apply to political, electoral, and social issue ads from candidates, Super PACs and other groups. The option will pop up for users directly on any political ad across Facebook and Instagram or through either platform’s ad settings.
“By giving people a voice, registering and turning out voters, and preventing interference, I believe Facebook is supporting and strengthening our democracy in 2020 and beyond,” Zuckerberg wrote in USA Today. “And for those of you who’ve already made up your minds and just want the election to be over, we hear you — so we’re also introducing the ability to turn off seeing political ads. We’ll still remind you to vote.”
Facebook may have previously announced its intention to allow users to see fewer political ads, but the language in its blog post from the beginning of this year said only that it would add a setting to let people see “fewer” political ads—not turn them off altogether as the company is announcing now. The January post also defended the company’s decision not to fact-check political ads or limit its extensive ad targeting tools.
In the instructional video the company provided, the setting offers to show users “fewer ads about this topic” rather than disable them entirely. We’ve asked Facebook to explain the discrepancy.
Last week, presumptive presidential nominee Joe Biden called on the company to fact-check its political advertising in the two weeks running up to the U.S. election. While Facebook’s added option is a small change, it’s still a rare concession for critics of its stubbornly laissez-faire view of political ads on its platform.
Facebook plans to make the new setting available beyond the U.S. “in countries where we have enforcement on ads about social issues, elections and politics” starting in the fall. The company is also implementing two ad transparency changes, making sure “Paid for by” disclaimers on political ads follow them after they’ve been shared and allowing anyone who uses the company’s Ad Library to track ad spending for Congressional races. Previously this was only available for U.S. presidential campaigns.
Along with the changes to how it handles political ads, Facebook also announced a Voting Information Center, a central hub that will provide information to U.S. voters on how to register to vote, request a mail-in or absentee ballot, any voting ID requirements and when and where to vote. The info center will also collect local alerts from election officials that might note adjustments to voting methods in light of COVID-19. The new voting info hub will be modeled after the coronavirus information center that Facebook launched in March.
According to the blog post, the information collected in the new U.S. voting hub will evolve as voters “move into different phases of the election,” like registration cutoffs, vote-by-mail ballot request deadlines, early voting periods and election day itself.
Facebook calls the effort “another line of defense” against election interference, clearly looking to avoid a repeat of its role in amplifying disinformation during the 2016 presidential election—a deeply consequential failure the company continues to grapple with a full four years later.
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
