Facebook will bar posts, ads that spread disinformation about the U.S. Census

Facebook will remove posts, photos and other content that mislead people about the US Census starting in 2020, aiming to prevent malicious actors from interfering in a critical, once-in-a-decade process that determines political representation. The new policies come as civil-rights leaders urge Facebook to act more aggressively against content that targets vulnerable communities, including people of color and immigrants, who may be most influenced by social-media misinformation about voting. Under the new rules, Facebook will ban posts from misrepresenting when and how the census occurs, who can participate and what happens to the personal information people submit to the government, company executives said. The policies also apply to ads, limiting even what politicians can say, despite rules that otherwise allow office-seekers to lie in Facebook posts that they pay to promote to the company’s more than 2 billion users.