How to Block Political Posts on Facebook.
Less than a month away from the US elections, and you may be tired of seeing political posts on Facebook day after day. Luckily, you can change some settings inside Facebook and clear your timeline.
You can not only block political posts on Facebook, but also report them so that Facebook can delete them permanently. Learn how to block political posts on Facebook so you can spend time on your favorite social network without controversy.
Snooze to hide political Facebook posts from friends
Everyone has a friend or acquaintance stirring up the bank by sharing a politically charged post. Want to turn them off until the election is over? You can block political posts from your Facebook friends directly from your Facebook feed by following these steps.
- Scroll to the political Facebook post you want to hide.
- Click the ellipsis icon in the upper right corner of the message.
- Select Postpone [source name] for 30 days.
Once you select “snooze”, this message and all messages from this person should disappear. It will be replaced with a small border confirming your choice to postpone this person, and a cancel button if you change your mind.
Not only will this Facebook political post disappear, but you also won’t see any future posts from this person. After the election is over, that person will appear again and you will see their messages again. If you want the action to last more than 30 days, select “Unsubscribe” to stop seeing the person’s messages again, while remaining friends.
Unfollow groups with political posts on Facebook
While many Facebook groups ban political posts, some do not, and they can be an unexpected source of annoying political posts on Facebook. Here’s how you can block these political posts on your Facebook feed
- Open the group you don’t want to see.
- Click the ellipsis icon in the upper right corner of the team page.
- Select “Unsubscribe”.
Unsubscribing is a great compromise, especially for those looking to temporarily block messages.
This option removes all of the group’s posts from your feed but allows you to remain in the group. You can select a group and view their posts, but they will not automatically appear in your feed. Once all has died down, you can easily re-subscribe to the group and enjoy reading their messages every day.
Change your Facebook ad settings to reduce political ads
You can also turn off political ads in your Facebook profile’s ad settings. Open Facebook in your web browser and follow these steps to reduce the number of Facebook political posts you see.
- Click the down arrow icon in the upper right corner.
- Select Settings & Privacy.
- Then select “Settings” to view all of your account settings.
- Scroll down and select “Ads” in the left column to view your ad settings.
- Select “Add Topics” to change the displayed ads.
- Find and select the Select Social Issues, Elections, or Policy option.
- Select “See fewer ads on this topic.”
While it won’t remove all political ads, this one option should significantly reduce the amount of political ads you see.
Hide all political Facebook ads for a specific advertiser
If you come across a political ad that you really don’t like, you can block the person or organization that sponsored the political ad in just a few steps.
- Find the ad you want to hide.
- Click the ellipsis icon in the upper right corner of the ad.
- Select “Why am I seeing this ad?” which explains why this ad is in your news feed.
- Select Hide to the right of Hide all ads from this advertiser.
Once you block an advertiser, you should no longer see any existing or future advertisements from that person or group.
Report a misleading political ad on Facebook
From time to time, you may come across political ads on Facebook that contain false information or fake news. You can report this post to Facebook and ask the social network to remove it. Follow these few simple steps to report false ads on Facebook.
- Find the ad you want to report.
- Click the ellipsis icon in the upper right corner of the ad.
- Click Complain.
- Please select the reason why you are reporting this ad.
- Click the Submit button to submit your report to Facebook.
Once posted, the ad will be sent to the Facebook ad viewer. This automated tool determines if an ad violates Facebook’s ad placement policies. If it does violate Facebook’s policy, the ad will be removed. Your review will still be useful even if the ad is not removed. Facebook regularly reviews its advertising policy and may change it based on user feedback.
What Facebook does
Facebook is doing its part by banning any new political ads placed in the week before the election. Candidates will not be able to place last-minute advertisements to influence voters. However, this will still allow existing ads to show in the final weeks of the campaign.
Unlike Twitter, which removes ads that it considers being false or misleading, Facebook remains on the sidelines of political struggles. The social network only removes ads that try to dissuade people from voting with the help of the coronavirus pandemic. Facebook does not remove controversial ads, but the company labels them as misinformation, reducing their overall impact.
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