Facebook Gets Rid of ‘Pseudoscience’ Ad-Targeting Category

Facebook has removed “pseudoscience” as an option for advertisers that want to target audiences, a category available until this week even as the world’s largest social media network vowed to curb misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic. Reuters reports: The company has also paused the availability of some other interest categories while it evaluates its list, a Facebook spokeswoman confirmed in an email after Reuters found “conspiracy theory” was no longer an ad-targeting option. The company eliminated the pseudoscience category from its “detailed targeting” list on Wednesday, the spokeswoman said by phone, after tech news site The Markup showed that it could advertise a post targeting people interested in pseudoscience. The Markup demonstrated that Facebook was allowing such ads after saying it would police COVID-19 misinformation on its platform. More than 78 million Facebook users were interested in “pseudoscience,” it said, citing Facebook’s ad portal.