Facebook reportedly considers banning political ads prior to the election

A moratorium on political ads may be coming to Facebook this fall.

Facebook is considering imposing a ban on political ads "in the days leading up to" November's presidential election, Bloomberg reported on Friday. As of now, the idea is "still only being discussed," the report says.

Facebook has long faced criticism for its decision not to fact-check political ads, something CEO Mark Zuckerberg has defended by saying that "people should decide what is credible, not tech companies." Last year, more than 250 Facebook employees signed a letter arguing that this policy "allows politicians to weaponize our platform by targeting people who believe that content posted by political figures is trustworthy."

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Facebook is now facing an ad boycott from companies urging it to crack down on hate speech and misinformation, and an independent audit concluded this week that it "has been far too reluctant to adopt strong rules to limit misinformation and voter suppression."

According to Bloomberg, part of the reason the potential ad ban hasn't been decided upon is that there's still some concern it "could hurt 'get out the vote' campaigns, or limit a candidate's ability to respond widely to breaking news or new information." The New York Times is also confirming the news of the potential ban while cautioning that it's still possible Facebook will decide against it and "continue with its current political advertising policy."

Facebook previously announced it would let users opt out of seeing political ads altogether, with Zuckerberg saying last month, "for those of you who've already made up your minds and just want the election to be over, we hear you."