Dec 27, 2019

Spotify will suspend political ads in 2020

Rashaan Ayesh

Photo: Aytac Unal/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Spotify announced Friday that it will suspend political ads in early 2020 for its nearly 130 million ad-supported listeners, Ad Age reports.

The big picture: The streaming giant, which said it lacks the resources "to responsibly validate and review" such content, is the latest tech company faced with attempting to figure out how to best handle misinformation and political ads.

What it means: Spotify's decision will only impact U.S. users since it does not run political ads globally.

  • The policy will extend to the platform's original podcasts as well.
  • Bernie Sanders and the RNC have placed political ads on Spotify in the past.
  • While Spotify did not disclose to Ad Age how much it makes from political ads, a person familiar with its advertising business told the publication that the sector wasn't a significant revenue driver.

Go deeper: 2020 candidates are mostly focusing their advertising spending online

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Sara Fischer

Facebook will make political ads optional for users

Photo: Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images

Facebook said Thursday it will give consumers the option to stop seeing political ads in their feeds moving forward.

Why it matters: Facebook has been heavily criticized for its policies around political ads, especially for its decision not to fact-check political ads.

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Scott Rosenberg, Sara Fischer, Rashaan Ayesh

Facebook won't stop letting politicians lie in ads

Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Anyone who was waiting for Facebook to change its controversial political ad policies — particularly the one that allows politicians to lie with impunity — will have to keep waiting, the company made clear Thursday.

Driving the news: Facebook released a raft of small changes to its rules around political ads, including giving consumers the option to block political ads from their feeds.

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Sara Fischer

2020 rules of the road for the Age of Misinformation

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

With just weeks to the Iowa caucuses, social media platforms have finalized their rules governing political speech — and fired a starting pistol for political strategists to find ways to exploit them from now till Election Day.

Why it matters: "One opportunity that has arisen from all these changes is how people are trying to get around them," says Keegan Goudiss, director of digital advertising for Bernie Sanders' 2016 campaign and now a partner at the progressive digital firm Revolution Messaging.

Go deeperArrowJan 14, 2020 - Economy & Business