Rejected 2.2 million advertisements seeking to obstruct voting in US election: Facebook

Facebook’s vice president Nick Clegg has said that the social media giant rejected a total of 2.2 million ads on Facebook and Instagram and withdrawn 120,000 posts for attempting to “obstruct voting” in the upcoming US presidential election.

Also read | Trump fumes as Facebook, Twitter limit reach of 'smoking gun' article on Biden and his son

Earlier in September, the social network site had said it would block new political ads in late October, among other measures, to reduce misinformation and interference.

Facebook had said that it will also remove misinformation about the pandemic and voting as well as any premature posts from candidates declaring victory.

Facebook has been increasing its efforts to avoid a repeat of events leading up to the 2016 US presidential election, won by Donald Trump, when its network was used for attempts at voter manipulation, carried out from Russia.

There were similar problems ahead of Britain's 2016 referendum on leaving the European Union.

"Thirty-five thousand employees take care of the security of our platforms and contribute for elections," said Clegg, who is vice president of global affairs and communications at Facebook.

"We have established partnerships with 70 specialised media, including five in France, on the verification of information", he added.

In 2016, while he was still deputy prime minister, Clegg complained to the Journal du Dimanche that Facebook had not identified or suppressed a single foreign network interfering in the US election.

On Wednesday President Trump rebuked Facebook and Twitter for blocking links to a New York Post article purporting to expose corrupt dealings by election rival Joe Biden and his son Hunter in Ukraine.

The story had raised allegations against Hunter Biden and his actions that involved Joe Biden.

"So terrible that Facebook and Twitter took down the story of “Smoking Gun” emails related to Sleepy Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, in the @NYPost. It is only the beginning for them. There is nothing worse than a corrupt politician. REPEAL SECTION 230!!!" tweeted Trump.

(With inputs from agencies)