Yes @Facebook has too much power. Now, a loophole for paid influencers to not label content as advertising. On Thursday, the FTC announced that it would be seeking public comment on whether it should review rules & inflict harsher penalties for mislabeling content. It should. https://t.co/1DcQtLIUwB

— Own Your Data (@OwnYourDataNow) February 14, 2020

A model of clarity, really https://t.co/njKxvwtU9S

— Kevin Roose (@kevinroose) February 14, 2020

Refusing to catalogue paid political ads because the Bloomberg campaign found a workaround means there will be less transparency for the content he is paying to promote. Mike Bloomberg cannot be allowed to buy an election with zero accountability. https://t.co/JVTIWt2HEz

— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) February 14, 2020

I can never get over how deeply unprepared tech platforms are for dealing with elections https://t.co/OT5xwPS5BH

— julia reinstein ? (@juliareinstein) February 14, 2020

Another important thing:

These sponsored posts won't be filed n Facebook's political Ad Library unless the poster pays to boost them. https://t.co/3FjHZXVmQX

— Makena Kelly (@kellymakena) February 14, 2020

Hypothesis: Facebook has too much power over our democracy. https://t.co/HPKVF0H5s7

— Roger McNamee (@Moonalice) February 14, 2020

Because the posts from influencers are branded content, not traditional ads run through FB’s ad platform, Sponsored political content will not be placed in Facebook’s political Ad Library unless the creator pays to boost their posts.

— Taylor Lorenz (@TaylorLorenz) February 14, 2020

Facebook + election meddling = ♥️

This company just can't stop itself, can it? https://t.co/81IwuDohZo

— Catalin Cimpanu (@campuscodi) February 14, 2020

If the 115th Congress had enacted the Honest Ads Act & the @POTUS had appointed a new commissioners to @FEC, we'd now have a level playing field for online political ads + standards for disclosures & disclaimers: https://t.co/KwCBvcp8vs Instead, self-regulation yields this: https://t.co/ngYgxVI0vm

— Alex Howard (@digiphile) February 14, 2020

Sponsored posts are not advertising but they DEFINITELY CONTAIN ADVERTISING. The FTC understands this but Facebook does not. https://t.co/pdRwbpU8ZX

— Dieter Bohn (@backlon) February 14, 2020

Got an update from Facebook:

They will tell third-party fact-checkers that if the speech in the sponcon is from the politician paying for the content, it won't be fact-checked. But if the speech is in the voice of the influencer who made it, it will be.https://t.co/nyUkP9qk8x pic.twitter.com/xzgQwAojZj

— Ryan Broderick (@broderick) February 14, 2020

Yet another convoluted set of rules related to Facebook’s politican-speech carve-out. It conflicts with, and undermines, other solid policies. https://t.co/RL6DEXmFVr

— Renee DiResta (@noUpside) February 14, 2020

600 policy guys at facebook LARPing as decision-makers using their big rubber APPROVED stamp on gibberish like this https://t.co/RqjFFfgTir

— brian feldman (@bafeldman) February 14, 2020

Facebook said it's not putting politically sponsored posts created by influencers in their public ad library.

They also wouldn't answer my questions about whether influencers posts will be exempt from fact-checking the way normal political ads are. ?https://t.co/nyUkP9qk8x pic.twitter.com/g1aUqBovNO

— Ryan Broderick (@broderick) February 14, 2020

Facebook developing US election "law" in real time https://t.co/BLBxdNVIsO

— Quinta "Pro Quo" Jurecic (@qjurecic) February 14, 2020

Political sponcon evades disclosure https://t.co/WlTvunKbNl

— Paul Blumenthal (@PaulBlu) February 14, 2020

Posts that are created by influencers who are paid to create sponsored content will not be placed in Facebook’s political Ad Library, @kellymakena reports

- one exception is that they will be put in the Library if the creator pays to boost their postshttps://t.co/X4WFb2RF9q

— Hamza Shaban (@hshaban) February 14, 2020

I can't really get over how much this assumes that the average Instagram user is able to tell the difference between a sponsored post or not – something I've written about for YEARS about that even really savvy internet users cannot tell https://t.co/kV4cQV9c4B

— Katie Notopoulos (@katienotopoulos) February 14, 2020

I cannot stress enough how intentionally vague and haphazardly enforced these policies are. https://t.co/CgjgB65NFP

— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) February 14, 2020

i mean if people base their voting preference on this circle jerk then whatever https://t.co/e4XkEkykuq

— drew olanoff (@yoda) February 14, 2020

We are entrusting truth and democracy to @facebook, who has earned zero public trust when it comes to everything from their role in Cambridge Analytica to making Breitbart a “trusted” news source.

Their only goal is money. No other rules apply. https://t.co/wQhlHHH3H5

— Sleeping Giants (@slpng_giants) February 14, 2020

NEW: Facebook will allow influencers to partner with political campaigns for sponsored posts.

There weren't any rules on this, because it wasn't really a thing until Michael Bloomberg started posting cringe.

More here: https://t.co/3FjHZXVmQX

— Makena Kelly (@kellymakena) February 14, 2020

The intersection of politics, ads and Facebook policies is now so complicated that the public has to understand the difference between organic and sponcon, disclosed sponcon and properly disclosed sponcon, political ads that go in the archive and don't, are fact-checked and not. https://t.co/3BC0yFrVVv

— Sarah Frier (@sarahfrier) February 14, 2020

Instagram is updating its processes after Bloomberg's meme influencer blitz (FB statement from a spokesperson below). Influencers doing sponcon for campaigns will now have to:

1. Use Insta's authorized branded content tool
2. Must be working w/ an authorized political advertiser pic.twitter.com/ntOCWYQuSV

— Taylor Lorenz (@TaylorLorenz) February 14, 2020

Facebook has also been in touch with the creators who are part of Meme 2020's efforts for the Bloomberg campaign and they're all going to retroactively update their posts to apply the correct branded content tags, which make it clear that its paid

— Taylor Lorenz (@TaylorLorenz) February 14, 2020

This is an absolutely clear policy that I'm sure Facebook's moderators will completely understand and have no problem implementing yes sir https://t.co/Pk29RuBzyy

— Ryan Mac ? (@RMac18) February 14, 2020

Elizabeth Warren responds to Facebook's decision to allow paid political sponsorships: https://t.co/d05vrYsGIr

— Makena Kelly (@kellymakena) February 14, 2020

Translation: Bloombucks welcome here! https://t.co/uRSHSJDPkm

— Mike Elgan (@MikeElgan) February 14, 2020

UwU Facebook awwows powiticaw candidates to wun bwanded content Sigh.https://t.co/NdeAG1HkIB

— Weutews (@Weutews) February 14, 2020

Political sponcon evades disclosure https://t.co/WlTvunKbNl

— Paul Blumenthal (@PaulBlu) February 14, 2020

Mike Bloomberg’s Sponcon Memelords Won’t Be Subject To Facebook’s Political Ad Regulations https://t.co/6bsmCTRsfO via @broderick

— Mat Honan (@mat) February 14, 2020

Every presidential election since 2012 has been BuzzFeed News’ election to own coverage of, but 2020 seems designed specifically for them https://t.co/Kb85yk98sT

— stacy-marie ishmael (@s_m_i) February 14, 2020

The Sponcon Memelord beat https://t.co/nj6QPLId3e

— Patrick Howell O'Neill (@HowellONeill) February 14, 2020

Mike Bloomberg is paying social media influencers to post fake messages to make him look “cool” https://t.co/OROTzi1HSo

— Terry Bull (@TerryBull8) February 14, 2020

One of the influencers said the ads are successful because they fool people into believing they are real. https://t.co/IxfGoU2bnX

— Salon (@Salon) February 14, 2020

How do you do, fellow kids? Where’s my 30 pieces of silver. #OKBloomer @MikeBloomberg I think it’s worth wayyyy more than $150 to pay me to stop being honest about your record. https://t.co/H6vEQaREJN

— Unrepentant Savage of the Working Class /Hellboi (@jmjlyons) February 14, 2020

Mike Bloomberg is paying social media influencers to post fake messages to make him look "cool" https://t.co/5idthtyRFj

— Jeffrey Levin (@jilevin) February 14, 2020

Mike Bloomberg is paying social media influencers to post fake messages to make him look “cool” https://t.co/UWGsM2gN0z

— Salon (@Salon) February 14, 2020

Facebook said today that political candidates can use paid branded content across its platforms, a clarification in response to Michael Bloomberg's meme campaign. https://t.co/udOhLKqAAz

— Axios (@axios) February 14, 2020

Facebook won’t catalog sponsored Mike Bloomberg memes as political ads https://t.co/Sm4e9GvDC5 pic.twitter.com/szyALK2c0Q

— The Verge (@verge) February 14, 2020

“Bloomberg's campaign is offering social media influencers a fixed $150 fee to create content that "tells us why Mike Bloomberg is the electable candidate..." The Daily Beast reported last week. https://t.co/yjFs4XUzmb

— Twitwit (@TwitWiter123) February 14, 2020

Mike Bloomberg is paying social media influencers to post fake messages to make him look “cool” https://t.co/luviZqOufU #SmartNews

— NCNative (@NCBerniecrat) February 14, 2020