Ted Cruz accuses Facebook of trying to 'manipulate' American votes with ban on new political ads

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Facebook to ban new political ads in week leading up to the election

Reaction from Kara Frederick, associate fellow at the Technology and National Security Program of The Center for a New American Security.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, condemned Facebook's decision to ban new political ads in the week before the 2020 elections, arguing that doing so would impact votes by blocking communications from candidates.

"Facebook's decision to ban new political ads in the week leading up to Election Day is just the latest example of Big Tech's repeated attempts to manipulate Americans' votes," Cruz said in a press release Friday.

"Blocking the publishing of new ads in the final week of the election will prevent candidates from making their case to voters at a critical time and could impact how people vote at the polls."

On Thursday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the new policy, which would allow pre-existing ads to continue running but block new ones.

FACEBOOK WILL BLOCK NEW POLITICAL ADS IN THE FINAL WEEK BEFORE THE US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

"It's important that campaigns can run get out the vote campaigns," Zuckerberg said, "and 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."

Facebook did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.

Amid warnings from Trump administration officials about the possibility for mail-in voting resulting in fraud, Facebook indicated it would consider that claim an attempt to "delegitimize" that particular method. Election officials on both sides of the political spectrum have touted the safety and security of voting by mail.

Zuckerberg said: "We will attach an informational label to content that seeks to delegitimize the outcome of the election or discuss the legitimacy of voting methods, for example, by claiming that lawful methods of voting will lead to fraud. This label will provide basic authoritative information about the integrity of the election and voting methods."

Cruz claimed that Facebook's decision did "nothing to advance democracy." "Similarly, Facebook's decision to label statements it disagrees with-including statements about the risk of voter fraud-as 'misinformation' does nothing to advance democracy," Cruz said.

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"All it does is place a thumb on the scale for the candidates Big Tech supports. I have long said that mandating mail-in voting will invite ballot harvesting and voter fraud, an undeniable fact. But Facebook's announcement suggests it will label this as misinformation while allowing the Left to indulge in voting conspiracy theories.

"These actions threaten the integrity of our elections and the future of our democracy. We must take action now to curtail Big Tech's influence and protect free speech as this election draws to a close."