Facebook Clamping Down on Campaign Consultants
Peter D'Abrosca
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Facebook is making the process for sharing political advertisements nearly inaccessible for non-professionals and causing havoc in the political consulting world.
“So Facebook went from no controls that allowed almost anyone set up an account and produce political ads, to communist controls, that are so cumbersome that even those who have being been buying ads for years on behalf of their candidates, now have to go through a multi-step process, that includes snail mail, SS #’s, ID’s and access to a desktop computer,” said Michael Biundo of RightVoter.
“It’s ridiculous, especially considering we are actually in the middle of an election year, and primaries are happening almost weekly,” he continued. “Prior to the change, all I needed to do was become an admin for the Facebook page I was trying to promote, and then add a credit card.”
Nearly all political campaigns – and especially grassroots ones – use Facebook to promote their candidates. Targeted advertisements used to be an easy way to reach a large audience and magnify a candidate’s message. Now, it seems like Facebook does not want that.
“I think their motives are purely an overreaction to controversy they find themselves embroiled in,” Biundo said in regards to a massive breach of data on Facebook during the 2016 election cycle. “They are now willingly or unwillingly injecting themselves into the campaign process by hurting campaigns that based [the campaigns’] strategy on using social media in the days leading up to a primary.”
“Also, they are also opening themselves up to hacking and a further controversy when our collective information leaks.”
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