Facebook is running a national ad campaign to encourage voting
It'll point people toward its Voting Information Centers on Facebook and Instagram.
Facebook is launching a national consumer awareness ad campaign around voting and registration that includes a “vote-a-thon” and in-app consumer marketing campaign. It’s the continuation of a program that Facebook said that has helped 2.5 million people register to vote so far this year, with the aim of registering 4 million people before the November 3rd election date.
Facebook said it will run the campaign across “national broadcast, cable, radio, and digital homepage takeovers within lifestyle and news outlets,” encouraging people to visit its voting information centers. It will also be featured front and center on its Instagram and Facebook apps. All of that will culminate in a vote-a-thon on the Facebook app page on Tuesday at 11 AM ET.
On Saturday, Facebook began showing users how to register to vote at the top of the Facebook, Instagram and Messenger apps. “These notifications take them to the relevant page with their state’s official website or one of our non-partisan partner organizations if online voter registration isn’t available in their state,” the company wrote. It promised to show those notifications through September 25th. (Voter registration deadlines vary widely from state to state.)
Facebook has been criticized during this election cycle for allowing lies to stand in political ads, when other sites like Twitter have banned political ads altogether. Earlier this month, however, CEO Mark Zuckerberg expressed concerns about the risk of “civil unrest” after the election and vowed to take measures to slow misinformation. However, critics have noted that it continues to flourish on the site despite the company’s efforts.
