In a report from Axios, indie developer Yoan Fanise has stated that Facebook rejected an ad for his upcoming procedurally generated road trip title Road 96 for "being too political." Initially, Fanise thought the rejection was a joke, but it seems to be a case of Facebook's filtering system incorrectly flagging the ad.
An email sent to Fanise states that the ad "may" have been rejected for including real political figures, making mention of elections, or "[i]mages, statements or slogans about social issues, such as the economy, environmental policy, or civil and social rights." He was given the option to either outright remove the ad or become authorized to run political ads.
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Fanise admits there is some language in the ad that could be construed as political, but it mostly deals with Road 96's plot. The game tasks players with reaching the border and escaping a troubled country, so some of the messaging in the ad echoes those themes. Still, the title is more than just a political allegory as players will encounter randomized passengers and learn their stories.
"I thought about [the movie] Minority Report," Fanise told Axios. "This is a robot checking in advance what you're going to do and decide for you, no you're not going to do that." As of writing, Facebook has not provided any comment to Axios or Fanise on the matter. Its policy for ads does mention that enforcement isn't perfect, so there is a chance a repeal can see the ad returns to the platform.
Source: Axios
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