How Facebook’s new election rules sidestep the real problem

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Programming note: The Interface will be off Monday for Labor Day.

I. The announcements

After months of deliberations, Facebook gave its answer to the critics who have called for it to put new restrictions on political advertising. The company said it would not accept new political ads in the seven days leading up to the Nov. 3rd US presidential election, but would allow those that had already been approved to continue running. The move was framed as a compromise: campaigns can continue to use Facebook for get-out-the-vote efforts through Election Day, but they’ll lose the ability to test new messages. As a result, it might be harder for candidates to spread misinformation in the final days of the campaign.

There’s a lot to say about the...

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