A new investigation by British broadcaster Channel 4 revealed the extent to which Facebook played a role in a 2016 Trump campaign strategy that saw Black Americans profiled and placed in a category called “deterrence;” the campaign then aimed to dissuade them from coming out to vote. (Channel 4)

Talking point: Facebook has come under severe political pressure, especially from Democrats, to ban political ads that spread misinformation or seek to spread doubt about the legitimacy of a candidate or the results of an election. The Channel 4 investigation showed the Trump campaign spent approximately US$57 million on political ads on Facebook in 2016, producing “six million different versions of highly targeted messages” to voters. But because most of the ads were “dark posts,” disappearing from feeds once a campaign stops paying for them, there is no way of knowing how the campaign targeted voters in the deterrence group. The social media giant recently announced it would ban political ads that claim victory before official results of the November election are announced.