Facebook has announced it will ban political advertising that has been bought by foreign entities during Australia‘s federal election.
The platform has faced increasing global scrutiny of its effect on elections, as well as on the spread of fake news and hate-speech.
Mia Garlick, the Director of Policy for Facebook Australia, said on Friday that the social media giant would introduce fact-checking as well in the lead-up to the election.
“Combating foreign interference is a key pillar of our approach to safeguarding elections on our platform,“ she said.
“As part of this commitment, we’re temporarily not allowing electoral ads to be purchased from outside Australia ahead of the election in May.”
The new restrictions have not yet been enforced, and will be brought in once Prime Minister Scott Morrison announces a date for the election.
International news agency Agence France-Presse is providing the fact-checking service Facebook hopes will mitigate the spread of fake news. However, news stories deemed to be false will not be deleted entirely – they will instead be moved lower down the News Feed.
