Most registered voters surveyed this week said they would support a law prohibiting social media platforms from running false political advertisements, pollsters said Thursday.
A majority of Americans spanning the political spectrum support passage of legislation preventing platforms such as Facebook and Twitter from letting advertisers place untruthful ads, according to the results of the Morning Consult poll.
Conducted on Tuesday and Wednesday among 1,996 registered voters, the poll gauged the public’s opinions about online political ads as the issue becomes more pressing as the 2020 presidential election nears.
“Do you support or oppose a law that would ensure all advertisements on social media platforms are factual, including political advertisements for candidates running for public office?” respondents were asked.
Seventy-seven percent of registered voters said they support the hypothetical law, while only 10% said they are opposed, Morning Consult reported.
Broken down by political affiliation, the poll’s results suggest that Americans across the board support ensuring all political ads shown on social media are factual: 81% of Democrats surveyed said they would support outlawing false political ads on social media, compared to 77% of Republicans and 70% of independents.
Facebook has come under fire in recent weeks after the company announced that political ads placed on its platforms would not be subjected to the same fact-checking scrutiny endured by other ads, effectively allowing political candidates and campaigns to pay to run ads containing false or misleading claims.
Twitter waded into the fray on Wednesday when the company’s co-founder and CEO, Jack Dorsey, said its platform would ban all political ads starting later this month.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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