Other social media companies should follow suit on foreign ad ban
Labour Party Director of Elections for the Repeal Referendum, Jane Horgan Jones, has welcomed moves by Facebook Ireland to clamp down on foreign ads during the referendum campaign.
Councillor Horgan Jones said:
“I welcome the decision by Facebook Ireland to ban advertisements from advertisers based outside of Ireland on the topic of the referendum on repealing the eighth amendment.
“After a huge influx of advertisements from questionable sources, it was inevitable that Facebook would have to react to issues surrounding identification and authenticity of advertisers on their platform when it comes to the eighth amendment campaign.
“There has been real concerns, not only about the volume but also the unattributed nature of so much of the advertising that is bombarding social media at an incredible cost. It is targeted and often not clear.
“When one sees the international debate on outside influences interfering in online election campaigns like the US election and Brexit we would be foolish to think we will not be influenced by somebody, either in elections or referenda, in the future.
“Facebook have been quick to respond to the issues at hand around ad transparency, it is time for Google and their sister company Youtube to do the same.”