General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFacebook plans to use U.S. mail to verify IDs of election ad buyers
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-facebook/facebook-plans-to-use-u-s-mail-to-verify-ids-of-election-ad-buyers-idUSKCN1G10VDFacebook plans to use U.S. mail to verify IDs of election ad buyers
Dustin Volz
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Facebook Inc will start using postcards sent by U.S. mail later this year to verify the identities and location of people who want to purchase U.S. election-related advertising on its site, a senior company executive said on Saturday.
The postcard verification is Facebooks latest effort to respond to criticism from lawmakers, security experts and election integrity watchdog groups that it and other social media companies failed to detect and later responded slowly to Russias use of their platforms to spread divisive political content, including disinformation, during the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Facebook revealed the plans a day after U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller unsealed an indictment accusing 13 Russians and three Russian companies of conducting a criminal and espionage conspiracy using social media to interfere in the election by boosting Republican Donald Trump and denigrating Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
The process of using postcards containing a specific code will be required for advertising that mentions a specific candidate running for a federal office, Katie Harbath, Facebooks global director of policy programs, said. The requirement will not apply to issue-based political ads, she said.
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Ok, comrades, get a box at the UPS store and have your mail forwarded
Frustratedlady
(16,254 posts)All your oligarchs can use that address and you can launder your money at the same time.
applegrove
(118,781 posts)or a box.
alarimer
(16,245 posts)They can sell anything else they want, any legitimate product, just no election ads.
RKP5637
(67,112 posts)BigmanPigman
(51,627 posts)who helped mentor Fuckerberg and he had real, workable ideas and mailing postcards was not on his list. His name is Roger McNamee. Even my dog would realize this post card idea is pathetically worthless (sorry to insult your intelligence Spike).
dalton99a
(81,590 posts)BigmanPigman
(51,627 posts)as the "regular guy" who only wants to help people communicate. It always is about $$$$$$ with him. He doesn't wear that T-shirt when he meets with the Russians and the Chinese govt officials regularly (he wears clean, white dress shirts and ties and speaks their languages with ease).
blueinredohio
(6,797 posts)PSPS
(13,614 posts)Besides this mail-verification scheme for candidate ads being ridiculously easy to thwart, why are "issue" ads exempted or even accepted in the first place? Issue ads are just thinly-veiled candidate ads anyway. I suppose mine is a rhetorical question because we all know the answer: Zuckerberg wants to keep the $$$ flowing into his pocket. In other words, this is all an empty gesture meant to quell the outrage over the criminality rather than really do anything about it.