Facebooks political ad ban created a disaster in Washington state

On Wednesday, Twitter announced that it will ban all forms of political advertising starting in November, opening up challenging questions about what role social media platforms should play in the 2020 elections. Announced just hours before Facebook’s quarterly earnings call, Twitter’s policy was based on the belief that “political message reach should be earned, not bought,” CEO Jack Dorsey explained.

It’s been a controversial decision — not least with the 2020 presidential frontrunners — but after Facebook’s ongoing fact-checking policy disaster, it’s an appealing option. Would we be better off if platforms just banned political ads entirely?

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