Arizona expert: Beware of deceptive online ads as 2020 election nears

PHOENIX — Get ready for a plethora of biased, misleading and outright fake advertisements and postings on Facebook and social media for the 2020 election.

Hopefully, our critical thinking doesn’t get lost among them.

“Think about the motive behind who has written something and posted it on the internet,” said Dr. Heather Monthie, associate dean of technology at Grand Canyon University.

She says that rule goes for candidates and initiatives that we like — and don’t like — on websites and social media.

Facebook has announced it is trying to limit “fake ads.”

“They are limiting the kinds of ads that can be run now, to try to counteract some of this kind of stuff,” Monthie said.

But Monthie reminds us that we are our own first lines of defense for this.

And then there’s facial recognition technology. She turned her’s off for Facebook.

“I want to maintain my own privacy,” Monthie said. “That’s something people may want to consider what’s being used with the facial recognition software that’s out there.”

Our images — and personal information that we share — could become materials for advertisers and identity thieves.

“People need to be responsible for what they’re ingesting and what they’re choosing to read and to believe,” Monthie said.

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