Daily Crunch: Facebook has a weak stance on political ads

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1. Facebook should ban campaign ads. End the lies.

Facebook recently formalized its approach to political advertising, declaring, “We don’t believe, however, that it’s an appropriate role for us to referee political debates.” In other words, it will allow politicians to say whatever they want in their ads, even if their claims are blatantly false.

Josh Constine proposes a different solution: If Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and YouTube don’t want to be the arbiters of truth in campaign ads, then they should stop selling them.

2. Fortnite is just a black hole right now

Fortnite just blew up its entire map and all that’s left is a black hole. Some are speculating that this is simply a teaser for a new Fortnite map, but it’s unclear when that map will arrive.

3. SoftBank reportedly preps a package to take control of WeWork parent company

SoftBank Group, the multibillion-dollar Japanese technology conglomerate and investment firm, has put together a bid that would save WeWork parent company The We Company, just weeks before the co-working real estate company’s imminent collapse, according to The Wall Street Journal.

4. Kik says it’s ‘here to stay,’ following shutdown reports

The once-mighty messaging service announced in late September that it would be shutting down its app and eliminating the vast majority of its team, following a protracted battle with the SEC. And yet the company tweeted over the weekend: “Great news: Kik is here to stay!!!!”

5. California’s Privacy Act: What you need to know now

The CCPA was signed into law in June 2018 — enshrining protections for a sub-set of U.S. citizens against their data being collected and sold without their knowledge. It will take effect on January 1, with a six-month grace period before enforcement begins. (Extra Crunch membership required.)

6. Why each Libra member’s mutiny hurts Facebook

Visa, Stripe and eBay have all dropped out of Facebook’s cryptocurrency project. The companies have said they could still get involved later, but their exit clouds the project’s future and leaves Facebook to absorb more of the blowback.

7. This week’s TechCrunch podcasts

Equity does something different this week, getting on the phone with an IPO expert to discuss the public market cycle, both domestically and abroad. And after taking a break for Disrupt, Original Content is back with a review of “The Politician” on Netflix.