<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"><head><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml><o:OfficeDocumentSettings><o:AllowPNG/><o:PixelsPerInch>96</o:PixelsPerInch></o:OfficeDocumentSettings></xml><![endif]--></head><body><div class="ydpe90500f7yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><div><div><span><span><b><span>[Al Jazeera Exclusive]</span></b></span></span></div><div><span><span><b><br></b></span></span></div><div><span><span><b>Excerpt:</b> "<span>Facebook's automated ad approval system<b> can be tricked fairly easily</b>, making it possible to buy ads to spread <b>misinformation </b>and <b>fake news</b> in advance of the Nigeria elections, an Al Jazeera investigation has found.</span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span><br></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span></span>Last month, Facebook said it would temporarily disallow political ads targeting Nigeria from being purchased outside the country in an attempt to prevent foreign influence in the February 16 elections.</span></span><span><span><br></span></span></div><div><span><span><br></span></span></div><div><span><span>The ads Al Jazeera was able to get Facebook to approve included:</span></span></div><div><span><span><br></span></span></div><div><span><span>* a <b>false claim</b> that armed group <b>Boko Haram would take part in the elections</b>.<br></span></span></div><div><span><span><span>* US President <b>Donald Trump voicing his support for opposition leader </b>Atiku Abubakar, <br></span></span></span><div><span><span><span>* the <b>deadline </b>for collection of personal voter cards in Nigeria being extended by a week, and <br>* thousands of Nigerian refugees getting a <b>voting extension </b>after the February 16 election date.</span></span></span></div><span><span><span><br><b>All four claims were false </b></span>- <span>but Facebook [automated system] approved the ads</span> [after some simple trial-error modifications to trick the system]."</span></span></div><div><br><span></span></div><div><span>In the article, a Prof. <span>Herman Wasserman, from the University of Cape Town, told Al Jazeera: <span><span>"<u>The evidence seems to suggest that their system does not work<b> </b>as effectively as it should</u>."</span></span></span></span><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div></div><div><span><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/02/exclusive-facebook-fake-news-ads-nigerian-vote-190214115116293.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" class="enhancr_card_0477504972">Exclusive: Facebook allows fake news ads before Nigerian vote</a></span></div><div><br></div><div id="ydpa99ea49aenhancr_card_0477504972" class="ydpa99ea49ayahoo-link-enhancr-card ydpa99ea49aymail-preserve-class ydpa99ea49aymail-preserve-style" style="max-width:400px;font-family:Helvetica Neue, Segoe UI, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" data-url="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/02/exclusive-facebook-fake-news-ads-nigerian-vote-190214115116293.html" data-type="YENHANCER" data-size="MEDIUM" contenteditable="false"><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/02/exclusive-facebook-fake-news-ads-nigerian-vote-190214115116293.html" style="text-decoration:none !important;color:#000 !important" class="ydpa99ea49ayahoo-enhancr-cardlink" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><table class="ydpa99ea49acard-wrapper ydpa99ea49ayahoo-ignore-table" style="max-width:400px" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr><td width="400"><table class="ydpa99ea49acard ydpa99ea49ayahoo-ignore-table" style="max-width:400px;border-width:1px;border-style:solid;border-color:rgb(224, 228, 233);border-radius:2px" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr><td class="ydpa99ea49acard-primary-image-cell" style="background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; position: relative; border-radius: 2px 2px 0px 0px; min-height: 175px;" valign="top" height="175" bgcolor="#000000" background="https://s.yimg.com/lo/api/res/1.2/XZo3K_6qzIHZff9iZx1igQ--~A/Zmk9ZmlsbDt3PTQwMDtoPTIwMDthcHBpZD1pZXh0cmFjdA--/https://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/Images/2019/2/14/f9f88e290b074ae6ac27ff67b880ee9c_18.jpg.cf.jpg"><!--[if gte mso 9]><v:rect fill="true" stroke="false" style="width:396px;height:175px;position:absolute;top:0;left:0;"><v:fill type="frame" color="#000000" src="https://s.yimg.com/lo/api/res/1.2/XZo3K_6qzIHZff9iZx1igQ--~A/Zmk9ZmlsbDt3PTQwMDtoPTIwMDthcHBpZD1pZXh0cmFjdA--/https://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/Images/2019/2/14/f9f88e290b074ae6ac27ff67b880ee9c_18.jpg.cf.jpg"/></v:rect><![endif]--><table class="ydpa99ea49acard-overlay-container-table ydpa99ea49ayahoo-ignore-table" style="width:100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr><td class="ydpa99ea49acard-overlay-cell" style="background-color: transparent; border-radius: 2px 2px 0px 0px; min-height: 175px;" valign="top" bgcolor="transparent"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