Democrats push Facebook to ‘take responsibility’ for placement of gun accessory ads

The Democratic members of a key House committee on Monday pushed for transparency from Facebook on placements of gun accessory advertisements in the wake of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. A group of bipartisan lawmakers rolled out legislation to allow Americans to hold foreign hackers accountable in court. And a major women’s rights activist signed a deal with Apple TV on International Women’s Day.
House Democrats on the Energy and Commerce Committee on Monday urged Facebook to be more transparent around its policies on the placement of ads, specifically advertisements for gun accessories.

The Democrats called on the social media giant to make “substantive changes” to its policies on the placements of ads in light of reports of ads showing gun accessories and protective equipment next to content that “amplified election misinformation.” They said similar ads also appeared next to news about the insurrection at the Capitol after Jan. 6

“With more than 100 million daily Facebook users in the United States, it is paramount that Facebook take responsibility for where it places advertisements and what those advertisements promote,” the Democrats added. “Furthermore, Facebook should inform advertisers about surrounding content, and make the necessary changes to guarantee that Facebook and companies’ ad dollars are not further supporting or sowing seeds of hate and distrust throughout the country.”

They called for detailed responses on Facebook’s policies around advertising by March 22. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, along with the CEOs of Twitter and Google, are scheduled to appear before the committee on March 25.