The MFJS Reporter — Winter 2020 T-R

With politicians dumping funds into ad agencies, students can expect a consistent stream of political promotions in their social media feeds.

“I get political ads on every platform. YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr. It’s annoying,” said DU student Sawyer Nash.

Politicians seem to believe in their ability to garner support based on the over $100 million spent so far on digital ads according to opensecrets.org. Of that $67 million was spent on Facebook advertising and $32 million on Google.

“I supported candidates before I start seeing their ads so they are not really relevant,” stated Nash.

“They [the ads] have made me think about other politicians. They have caused me to look into them more, but I don’t vote based on an ad. They make me interested. It’s not a this is it. This is the answer,” said DU student Grant Stansbury.

The influence of political ads is very much in question at the University of Denver. With over one billion active users on Facebook and 100 million on Instagram according to Facebook, It is obvious that social media advertisements get a lot of eyeballs. But how should these platforms deal with political advertisements?

Facebook’s stance on the advertising issue is very much a laissez-faire approach. Facebook does not regulate or restrict political advertisements in any way, regardless of their validity.

According to The New Yorker, an ad released on Facebook misled viewers into believing that Candidate Joe Biden offered Ukrainian officials $1 billion to drop a case against his son.

“I certainly don’t agree with Facebook’s stance, because I think the misrepresentation of facts or just, in general, the falsification of information is ridiculous for a platform that large to be not only allowing but promoting,” stated DU student Blaine Tracy.

“The platforms have a right to decide their own policies with regard to ads. I think it is fine because when you use a social media platform you consent to its terms and conditions,” countered Nash.

Twitter, on the other hand, has decided to ban all political advertising. In its statement regarding this decision, the company said that a political message’s reach should be earned not bought.

“I don’t think it should be up to social media [to regulate the ads]. I feel like it could get really messy. I feel like there should be a different entity that regulates the ads before they are put on social media,” said Stansbury.

Other students feel Twitter’s stance is better than Facebook’s, but Twitter has still missed the mark.

“I don’t know if I agree with Twitter’s stance, but I think that is far better. I think you are going to see problems wherever you have political ads because the ads aren’t going to be even. People are going to be able to pay for more ad space,” said Tracy.