Wednesday’s debate between Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris will no doubt focus on the deadly coronavirus pandemic that has so far killed more than 210,000 Americans.
However, there’s another issue looming in the background: Facebook. As President Donald Trump continues to use Facebook to spew dangerous misinformation about the virus, questions about the social media giant’s role in the spread of white supremacist violence and attempted voter suppression demand attention.Â
Accountable Tech, a nonprofit run by a former Hillary Clinton campaign spokesperson and the former executive director of Tax March, hopes to focus that attention with an ad spot during Wednesday’s debate on, according to CNN. The ad, embedded above, focuses on Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg’s noted failures to live up to its and his stated goals.
Notably, according to the website inspection tool Blacklight, the Accountable Tech website is embedded with Facebook tracking tools.
“When you visit this site, it tells Facebook,” notes Blacklight.
We reached out to Accountable Tech in an effort to determine what it hopes to accomplish using Facebook’s tracking tools (which, it should be noted, this site does as well), as well as if it plans to run more anti-Facebook ads in the future. Jesse Lehrich, Accountable Tech’s co-founder, replied and explained that his organization uses “these trackers as part of our digital ad program – would just note that we’re a non-profit and all our ads are aimed at big tech accountability + education.”
Lehrich confirmed that Accountable Tech placed a “6-figure national cable buy” for Wednesday and Thursday.
“The ads are part of a broader effort to highlight the price society and democracy are paying for Facebook’s growth-at-any-cost orthodoxy,” he explained over email. “We need to tell that story effectively to build momentum toward our ultimate goal, which is to have social media platforms that actually serve the public good.”
So enjoy the ad. It’s a nice reminder that, no, you’re not the only one who thinks Facebook is a scourge.
UPDATE: Oct. 7, 2020, 12:38 p.m. PDT:Â This story has been updated with a comment from Jesse Lehrich.
