Political ads
Politics is a game of lies, promises, and propaganda, and for most politicians, the best strategy for winning an election is winning masses. In winning masses, most politicians turn to social media, which enables them to reach many citizens. In the US, this trend has seen numerous politicians win elective spaces with little promises but lies and propaganda against their opponents. The article, “Dissent Erupts at Facebook over Stance at Political ads,” Facebook’s employees expressed their concerns over the negative implications of false ads on the company’s stability (Ewing, Eavis, Penn, Krauss, Kitroeff, Gelles, & Michael, 2019). Political ads should not be allowed on social media because; they threaten the democracy of the American people, it manipulates citizens, and it is a sign of greed of these companies over the American people.
Political ads threaten American democracy to a large extent. In their critic of Facebook’s policy of allowing politicians to post ads on their platform, the employees argue that this act is a breach of Facebook’s stand on democracy. Through these false ads, citizens are denied their democratic right to choose the right leader through the right information (Ewing et al. 2019). The employees cite that, “Russians have used social media in the past to influence the electorate position.” For this reason, social media should not be used for political ads.
Through political ads, citizens are manipulated to vote for the wrong leaders (Ewing et al. 2019). In their letter, the employees state that “Russia used divisive and misleading information to interfere with the 2016 elections.” This implies that politicians, through their support agents, use propaganda to manipulate innocent citizens into supporting them.
Allowing politicians to spread false information through social media is a sign of greed aimed at having a negative impact on the American people. In their response to the critic of the employees, the Facebook, executive stated that (Ewing et al. 2019). “Economic but not political forums are the leading generators of revenue.” This implies that in their bid to win financial gains, social media deliberately allows false information sharing.
In conclusion, social media should not be used for political ads. Given the complexity of data tracing and distinguishing between true and false information, social media platforms should not be allowed to host political ads. This is because these ads contain false information aimed at misguiding citizens into following leaders, rather than electing based on merit and manifestos.