Mahmoud Hassan
Following Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony before Congress last April, Facebook has been scrambling to implement new rules for political advertising. They aren’t working so well.
The rules—ostensibly created to protect the public from “fake news”—appear to be improperly banning news posts for containing words or phrases from a list of terms the company created in their belated attempts to winnow fact from fiction. (Although Facebook apparently missed some targeted ads that had an impact on this week’s California primary election.)
Recently, The Progressive created a Facebook event for an upcoming film screening that was initially refused by the company’s automated screening system. But in the end, we prevailed.
Here’s our exchange:
From: Facebook Ads Team
To: Norman Stockwell
Date: Sat, Jun 2, 2018 at 2:53 PM
Subject: Your ad is disapproved
Your ad isn't approved because it doesn't comply with our Advertising Policies. You can click the ad name below to see why it wasn't approved and edit the ad to have it reviewed again.
-------
On Sat Jun 2, 2018 13:00:46, Norman Stockwell wrote:
This ad does not contain “political” content. It is a theatrical screening of four films. All of which have won awards, and several of which have been shown on television.
From: Facebook
To: Norman Stockwell
Date: Sat, Jun 2, 2018 at 3:09 PM
Subject: You contacted Facebook: Why was my ad not approved?
Hi Norman,
I've put together some information about our ad policies and the actions you can take.
Here's what's preventing your ad from being approved:
The text and/or imagery you're using qualifies as political, based on the definition we're using for enforcement.
You can learn more about what qualifies as political in the Ads Help Center.
What to do next:
You must authorize your Page to run political ads. To begin the authorization process, please visit your Page's Settings. You can find more information here. Once you're authorized to run political ads, be sure to select the political ad option. Your ad will run with the political ad header and disclaimer.
Was this helpful? Let us know
------
Sat, Jun 2, 2018 3:11 PM, Norman Stockwell wrote:
This ad does not contain “political” content. It is a theatrical screening of four films. All of which have won awards, and several of which have been shown on television.
Which words is Facebook considering “political”? Is it “Martin Luther King”??
From: Facebook
To: Norman Stockwell
Date: Sat, Sat, Jun 2, 2018 at 4:03 PM
Subject: You contacted Facebook: Why was my ad not approved?
Hi Norman,
I've put together some information about our ad policies and the actions you can take.
Here's what's preventing your ad from being approved:
The text and/or imagery you're using qualifies as political, based on the definition we're using for enforcement.
You can learn more about what qualifies as political in the Ads Help Center.
What to do next:
You must authorize your Page to run political ads. To begin the authorization process, please visit your Page's Settings. You can find more information here. Once you're authorized to run political ads, be sure to select the political ad option. Your ad will run with the political ad header and disclaimer.
Was this helpful? Let us know
-------
Sat, Jun 2, 2018 at 4:53 PM, Norman Stockwell wrote:
An ad for the screening of award winning films in a public theater is *not* a “political” ad. For this reason, I will not register it as a political ad. I request that you pass this conversation higher up the chain to a supervisor or department head for review. This is a free speech issue and I cannot compromise in favor of expediency to get the ad posted.
From: Facebook
To: Norman Stockwell
Date: Sun, Jun 3, 2018 at 8:50 AM
Subject: You contacted Facebook: Why was my ad not approved?
Hi Norman,
Thank you for contacting us about your ad disapproval.
We've reviewed your ad again and have determined that it does not need to be labeled as a political ad.
Your ad is now approved and will start delivering soon. You can track your results in Facebook Ads Manager.
Have a great day!
Norman Stockwell is the publisher of The Progressive.