Snapchat says it fact checks political ads in dig at rival Facebook
Snapchat boss Evan Spiegel has revealed that his platform fact checks all political ads, as he took a swipe at rival social media firm Facebook.
Read more: Mark Zuckerberg defends politics ads on Facebook after Twitter ban
Tech giants have come under fire in recent months over their failure to crack down on adverts that spread misinformation amid fears they could unfairly influence elections.
Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg has defended his decision to allow unfiltered political advertising on the social network after Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey announced a complete ban on paid-for political ads.
Spiegel has now weighed in on the debate, saying his firm allows political ads only after they have been approved by a team of fact checkers.
“We subject all advertising to review, including political advertising,” he told CNBC. “And I think what we try to do is create a place for political ads on our platform, especially because we reach so many young people and first-time voters we want them to be able to engage with the political conversation, but we don’t allow things like misinformation to appear in that advertising.”
Snapchat’s parent company Snap posted better-than-expected results for the third quarter last month, securing 210m active users and increasing revenue 50 per cent to $446m (£346.2m).
Read more: Twitter outlines political ad ban ahead of 2020 US election
However, the firm’s ad business is substantially smaller than those of Facebook and Google.
Main image credit: Getty