Facebook is considering a ban on political ads on the social media platform in the run-up to the US presidential election this November, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing sources familiar with the matter.
The sources, who asked to remain anonymous, said that the decision has not yet been made.
Though the ban is designed to prevent the spread of misleading information ahead of the national vote, there are concerns that eliminating political agitation could potentially decrease voter turnout, or limit candidates' capabilities to respond to political developments.
In mid-June, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that his social networks will be launching a campaign to increase voter turnout in the upcoming US presidential election and that a feature to block political ads will be introduced.
Zuckerberg has firmly stood out from other social media heads for refusing to introduce verification mechanisms for filtering out false political material and for refusing to censor posts from US President Donald Trump that other platforms say incite violence. He argues that social media networks should not be "arbiters of truth".
However, the Facebook CEO has come under harsh criticism for refusing to impose a standard on truthfulness in political advertising.
