News Information and Media Site: Byers Market: Facebook to ban new political ads in week before election

September 3, 2020

By DYLAN BYERS in Los Angeles &

AHIZA GARCÍA-HODGES in San Francisco

Good morning. 🇺🇸 Breaking now: Mark Zuckerberg will today unveil new steps that Facebook is taking to protect election integrity, including a ban on new political ads in the week leading up to Election Day. See our lead item for full details.

🇮🇳 Driving Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Twitter account was hacked this morning. The hackers asked his followers to make donations in cryptocurrency, a scam reminiscent of the great Bitcoin hack that hit Twitter earlier this year.

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🗳️ Moving the Market

Facebook to ban new political ads in week before election

Mark Zuckerberg today will unveil new steps that Facebook is taking to protect the integrity of the 2020 election, including a ban on new political ads for the week leading up to Election Day, Nov. 3, and the removal of posts that try to suppress or discourage voting.

• The measures also aim to prevent campaigns and their supporters from making premature claims of victory, a situation some Democrats have described as a "doomsday scenario."

The big picture: Facebook's move comes amid growing fears that President Donald Trump and his supporters will use social media to spread evidence-free claims of voter fraud and cast doubt on absentee votes, which are likely to delay the final results for several days.

• In a forthcoming note to Facebook staff, Zuckerberg says he's "worried that with our nation so divided and election results potentially taking days or even weeks to be finalized, there could be an increased risk of civil unrest across the country."

• "It's important that we prepare for this possibility in advance and understand that there could be a period of intense claims and counter-claims as the final results are counted," the Facebook chief writes. "This could be a very heated period."

The details: In the week leading up to Nov. 3, Facebook will block new political and issue ads. "I generally believe the best antidote to bad speech is more speech, but in the final days of an election there may not be enough time to contest new claims," Zuckerberg says, though he adds that ads posted before the final week can stay up.

• Facebook will also put "authoritative" election information at the top of Facebook and Instagram and remove any posts that contain misinformation about voting or that try to use the coronavirus pandemic to discourage voting.

• Finally, Facebook says that "if any candidate or campaign tries to declare victory before the final results are in," it will "add a label to their posts directing people to the official results from Reuters."

The backstory: In recent months, Trump has repeatedly tried to cast doubt on the integrity of the election, questioning the legitimacy of mail-in votes. This week, he encouraged supporters in North Carolina to test the mail-in system by voting twice, which is illegal.

• The Democratic party is now preparing "for a worst-case scenario in which Mr. Trump fights in courts and state legislatures after declaring a premature victory," NYT's Trip Gabriel reported yesterday.

Moving Menlo: For Facebook, the proactive posture on the 2020 election is an opportunity to make up for failures during the 2016 election, when foreign governments and groups used the platform to spread misinformation and sow discord.

• This time, however, Zuckerberg says Facebook is "increasingly seeing attempts to undermine the legitimacy of our elections from within our own borders," which represents a new challenge.

🇺🇸 Talk of the Trail 🇺🇸

Fox News Sunday's Chris Wallace will moderate the first presidential debate between President Donald Trump and Joe Biden on Sept. 29. A highly reputable journalist who often breaks with his pro-Trump colleagues, Wallace has frequently been criticized by the president.

• C-SPAN's Steve Scully will moderate the second presidential debate on Oct. 15, and our colleague Kristen Welker will moderate the third on Oct. 22. USA Today's Susan Page will moderate the vice presidential debate on Oct. 7.

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🌁 Big in the Bay

Robinhood faces SEC probe

Robinhood, the mobile trading app, is facing a civil fraud investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission for failing to disclose that it was selling clients' orders to high-speed trading firms, WSJ's Dave Michaels and Alexander Osipovich report.

• The big picture: "The probe is the latest headache for the upstart brokerage firm that was founded in 2013 and has developed a hugely popular app that allows individuals to trade stocks, options and cryptocurrencies without paying any commissions."

• "While Robinhood has seen phenomenal growth this year, [it] has faced setbacks such as outages that prevented customers from trading, the cancellation of its plans to expand to the U.K. and fallout from the suicide of a 20-year-old Robinhood customer."

What's next: "The investigation is at an advanced stage and the company could have to pay a fine exceeding $10 million if it agrees to settle the [SEC] probe." As of now, "the two sides haven't formally negotiated a proposed fine."

Market Links

• Larry Ellison disbands his foundation (Vox)

• Tim Davie inherits a vulnerable BBC (NYT)

• Michael Pack meddles with the VOA (NPR)

• John Boyega criticizes Disney on race (GQ)

• Michael Jordan joins DraftKings (FOS)

Mike Ehrmann/Getty

📺 Talk of TV Land

The great advertiser flight

The threat of an NFL-less fall, a dearth of new programming and general uncertainty around the coronavirus pandemic has advertisers "pressing for unprecedented flexibility to back out of monthslong spending commitments with TV networks," WSJ's Alex Bruell reports.

• PepsiCo, Chipotle and Verizon are among the companies that have sought the ability to back out of existing deals if NFL games are cancelled or if there are scheduling changes.

The big picture: "The NFL's fate is likely to have a major impact on the ad world, not only because of the partial postponement of college football but also because little new entertainment programming is being made due to pandemic-caused production shutdowns."

• "Advertisers spent close to $5 billion on the NFL last season, according to ad-tracking firm Kantar."

What's next: The NFL is still planning to launch its season one week from today, on Sept. 10. Four players and six team personnel tested positive for COVID-19 in the most recent round of testing Tuesday.

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🌴 Talk of Tinseltown

Netflix lands Harry & Meghan

Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, have signed a deal to produce films, scripted series and documentaries for Netflix, the latest global power couple to enter into an all-inclusive deal with the Hollywood streaming giant.

• The deal, financial terms of which were not disclosed, is similar to the one that Barack and Michelle Obama signed with Netflix in 2018. The couple also held conversations with Apple, Disney and NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News.

• Ted Sarandos said Netflix was "incredibly proud" that Harry and Meghan "have chosen Netflix as their creative home — and are excited about telling stories with them that can help build resilience and increase understanding for audiences everywhere."

The details: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex who quit as senior royals earlier this year, will produce scripted series, docuseries, documentaries, features and children's programming. That will include several projects already in development, including a nature docuseries and an animated series that celebrates women.

• The couple may appear on screen in some of their documentaries, just as the Obamas have. But Meghan, a former actor, has no plans to return to acting, the company said.

• Like the Obamas, the couple cast the deal as an opportunity to highlight positive stories and inspire change: "Our focus will be on creating content that informs but also gives hope," the couple said.

The backstory: The Netflix deal was highly anticipated following the couple's decision to step back from their official duties with the royal family. The couple has been living in Los Angeles since March and recently bought an estate in nearby Montecito, where Oprah Winfrey, Gwyneth Paltrow and Ariana Grande also have homes.

🎞️ What's next: Speaking of Netflix, "Game of Thrones" creators David Benioff and DB Weiss have settled on their next big project: an adaptation of the Chinese sci-fi series, "The Three-Body Problem."

See you tomorrow.