VICE News tested one of Facebook's new features designed to counter foreign election interference and proved, so far, it is a failure.
In May, Facebook added a mandatory “Paid For” disclosure for every ad that relates to politics or what Facebook calls an “issue of national importance.” The idea is to lift the veil on the kind of inflammatory ads placed by anonymous advertisers that plagued Facebook during the 2016 race.
But when VICE News placed ads on behalf of prominent political figures such as Vice President Mike Pence, and Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez, Facebook quickly approved them. We also tried submitting an ad on behalf of “Islamic State,” which was also approved by Facebook. We were able to get Facebook’s approval for political ads that included these names within the Paid For disclosure.
Using “Hillary Clinton” in the Paid For disclosure was denied by Facebook, but that didn’t prevent us from continuing to place political ads under other false names and bogus PACs. Facebook didn’t explain to VICE News why Hillary Clinton was denied.
To be able to submit political ads on Facebook, we were required to submit a valid ID and proof of residence. That means Facebook knew who was behind the ads internally, but externally, Facebook users would see was completely made up Paid For information.
VICE says it reached out to Facebook after the experiment, and Facebook said no one should have okayed the ads, adding, "Enforcement isn't perfect."
A Facebook spokesperson told VICE News the company is developing closer relationships with election authorities who could flag potentially non-compliant disclaimers.
Facebook also said that no foreign advertisers are permitted to place political ads in the U.S., but that didn’t stop VICE News from using exact copies of ads that were run by Russian agents during their 2016 disinformation campaign.
Facebook told VICE News that the actual content of these ads did not violate its rules, only the fabricated Paid For disclosures.
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In a further bid for transparency, Facebook revealed its top political advertisers since May. The list revealed that Facebook itself is its own top political advertiser, spending $12.5 million on image ads; Texas candidate for U.S. Senate Beto O’Rourke was second with $5.3 million, and Trump for America was third, with $3.1 million, a sign that Trump is still pouring funds into Facebook even though he’s not on the ballot in November.
Facebook’s political ad tool let us buy ads “paid for” by Mike Pence and ISIS (VICE News)