Facebook has pulled government ads targeted at people in marginal seats, saying the messages trumpeting investment in towns “were not correctly labelled”.
HuffPost
UK revealed today that ministers authorised more than 20 adverts, paid for with taxpayers’ cash, to go live the same day
Boris Johnson got MPs to back a snap general election.
The move attracted widespread criticism amid claims the government was using public money to boost Tory prospects at the December 12 poll.
The messages were all targeted at people in areas vital to an
election victory for Johnson - where the sitting MP has a majority below 5,000 votes - such as Milton Keynes, Morley, Northampton and Workington.
Now, the digital giant has removed the adverts. A company spokesman told HuffPost UK on Friday evening: “The adverts run by the ‘My Town Page’ were not correctly labelled as being about social issues.
“Ads about social issues,
elections or politics that appear on our platforms should include a disclaimer provided by advertisers.
“We are currently working with the advertiser to help them better understand our policies and correctly label ads in the future.”Parliament has not yet dissolved and the civil service has not officially entered the pre-election period when it must remain neutral, known as purdah.
But the advertisements were published after
Labour had decided to back a snap election.
Yvette Cooper, the Labour chair of the Commons Home Affairs Committee, was among those criticising the move. How on earth has Mark Sedwill allowed this to happen? Did permanent secretaries go along with this Tory abuse of government advertising? https://t.co/fsoeMB1Yan— Yvette Cooper (@YvetteCooperMP) November 1, 2019Labour MP Ian Lucas told HuffPost UK yesterday that he had written to cabinet minister Michael Gove about the “outrageous” misuse of public money.
He said: “These adverts are being deployed to Tory target seats on the cusp of a general election
“It would be an insult to our intelligence to say that this isn’t public money being used for political purposes. It clearly is.
“It is an example of how the government is merging political activity with the arms of government in its own political interest.”
Data and how parties use digital advertising will be under intense scrutiny during the election campaign.
Facebook founder
Mark Zuckerberg has come under pressure to follow
Twitter in banning political ads, but has refused.
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