Facebook To Ban Campaign Ads From Running One Week Before The Election Over Concerns Of ‘Civil Unrest’

In the week leading up to the presidential election on November 3, Facebook will prevent campaigns from running advertisements on the social media site, according to NBC News.

“The U.S. elections are just two months away, and with Covid-19 affecting communities across the country, I’m concerned about the challenges people could face when voting,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in an internal memo, according to NBC. “I’m also 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.”

The news comes as social media sites, like Twitter, continue to crack down on President Donald Trump for raising concerns about the fraud that could come with mail-in voting as Democrats continue to push for it amid the COVID-19 pandemic. His concerns were echoed by Attorney General William Barr, who said during an interview with CNN this week that the process is ripe with fraud.

“This election is not going to be business as usual,” Zuckerberg wrote. “Since the pandemic means that many of us will be voting by mail, and since some states may still be counting valid ballots after election day, many experts are predicting that we may not have a final result on election night.”

“It’s important that we prepare for this possibility in advance and understand that there could be a period of intense claims and counterclaims as the final results are counted,” he said. “This could be a very heated period.”