According to an article in The Huffington Post, Facebook has banned ads promoting the decriminalization of marijuana because it contained a picture of the marijuana plant. Now, I am not saying that I am for or against legalizing marijuana. However, I think it is strange that a company that makes its money from people socializing and being able to communicate on issues and interests is preventing such issues from being advertised. The group that placed the ad, Just Say Now, is promoting an issue that will be on the California ballot in this year's election, making it something that voters should be informed about. How else can an issue advertise if they cannot show what they are promoting?
Facebook states that it is considered a smoking product which is banned in their ad rules, however those same rules do not classify pot as a smoking product.. According to the Facebook Help Center, "Facebook does not allow advertisements promoting tobacco products.Tobacco or tobacco-related products include cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco, tobacco pipes, hookahs or hookah lounges, rolling papers, vaporized tobacco delivery devices, or electronic cigarettes." Marijuana is not stated anywhere in their ad rules.
I understand that Facebook wants to keep ads clean and prevent misleading information, but the legalization of marijuana is a topic that most Facebook users are interested in and often comes up in today's political system. So why is it not being treated like one?
To read the full article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/24/facebook-blocks-ads-for-p_n_692295.html
Saying Facebook makes money from people socializing is like saying Google makes money from people using its search engine. That statement is false at worst and oversimplified at best. The truth is that both Google and Facebook are advertising machines rather than search engine and social networking websites. When all is said and done, the two most powerful websites in the world are the two most powerful because of advertising.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't make sense for Facebook the social networking site to censor the marijuana debate, but does it make sense for Facebook the advertising site to? Maybe not, but every truth has two sides, right?
Yes, Facebook makes money off advertising, but only because there are so many people socializing in the first place. When Facebook originally came out, there were very few ads to be seen when I logged in. Now that millions of people are using it, there are more ads. It is all related.
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