Facebook said on Tuesday that it had removed ads from both the Trump and Biden presidential campaigns that arguably could mislead voters in states where early voting has not started.
The ads were bought by the campaigns over the weekend, as part of a last-minute push to secure Facebook ads before the end of Monday. Facebook recently said it would not accept any new political ads in the week before Election Day, but would continue to run ads that had been bought ahead of time.
The Trump and Biden campaigns did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Megan Clasen, a Biden campaign media adviser, tweeted that Facebook had told her office that it could not run ads that urged people to vote by saying that “Election Day is tomorrow” or “Election Day is today.” She then pointed to a similar ad by the Trump campaign that said, “Election Day is today.”
Several hours after journalists and Biden campaign officials contacted Facebook, the Trump campaign ad was removed. Facebook said the ads were misleading because they could be seen by voters in states where voting was not currently open.
“As we made clear in our public communications and directly to campaigns, we prohibit ads that say ‘Vote Today’ without additional context or clarity,” a Facebook spokesman said.
Facebook had previously said it would not fact-check political ads. But the company said it would remove advertisements that could mislead voters or provide incorrect information on how to vote.
