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Option #1: Facebook

Jay Spears

Colorado State University Global

COM300 Effective Communication: Research and Writing

Audra Diers-Lawson

December 25, 2022

Option #1: Facebook

As political discourse finds its footing in online media, social platforms like Facebook must navigate the actions and consequences that surface from hosting paid political advertisements. While social media platforms approached this scenario in differing ways, Facebook has chosen to abstain from any fact-checking or censorship of political advertisements. Zuckerberg stated the reasoning behind this decision was the protection of free speech, and raised the question on whether a privatized tech company should play the gatekeeper on what constitutes truth (Williams et. Al., 2022). In conflict to Zuckerberg’s claimed values on free speech, the need for true and accurate political representation for an informed voter base is still present. As Facebook employees themselves brought to attention, the sheer enormity of information and political advertisements in need of fact-checking poses a problem. Along with the fact that Facebook is a tech comp