Facebook announces changes to make Ads, Pages more transparent

Image result for facebook


Facebook has announced that changes are being made to the way Ads and Pages are managed on its platform and on Instagram. These changes are designed to increase transparency and accountability as well as prevent election interference.

In a statement release by Rob Goldman, VP, Ads and Alex Himel, VP, Local & Pages today, “We believe that when you visit a Page or see an ad on Facebook it should be clear who it’s coming from. We also think it’s important for people to be able to see the other ads a Page is running, even if they’re not directed at you.”

“That’s why today we’re announcing important changes to the way we manage ads and Pages on Facebook as well as Instagram. These are designed to increase transparency and accountability, as well as prevent election interference,” they said.

Increased Transparency and Accountability for Electoral and Issue Ads

Last October, the platform announced that only authorized advertisers will be able to run electoral ads on Facebook or Instagram. And today, the company is extending that requirement to anyone that wants to show “issue ads” — like political topics that are being debated across the country. Facebook is working with third parties to develop a list of key issues, which the company will refine over time. To get authorized by Facebook, advertisers will need to confirm their identity and location. Advertisers will be prohibited from running political ads — electoral or issue-based — until they are authorized.

In addition, these ads will be clearly labeled in the top left corner as “Political Ad.” Next to it Facebook will show “paid for by” information. The company started testing the authorization process this week, and people will begin seeing the label and additional information in the US later this spring.

Facebook is also investing in artificial intelligence and adding more people to help find advertisers that should have gone through the authorization process but did not. The company realized it won’t catch every ad that should be labeled, and it encourages anyone who sees an unlabeled political ad to report it. People can do this by tapping the three dots at the top right corner of the ad and selecting “Report Ad.”

View Ads and Searchable Political Archive

In Canada, Facebook has been testing a new feature called view ads that lets you see the ads a Page is running — even if they are not in your News Feed. This applies to all advertiser Pages on Facebook — not just Pages running political ads. The company plans to launch view ads globally in June.

In June Facebook also plans to release a public, searchable political ads archive. This will contain all ads with the “Political Ad” label, and will show the image and text, as well as additional information like the amount spent and demographic audience information for each ad.

Increased Authenticity and Transparency for Pages

Today, Facebook is also announcing that people who manage Pages with large numbers of followers will need to be verified. Those who manage large Pages that do not clear the process will no longer be able to post. This will make it much harder for people to administer a Page using a fake account, which is strictly against our policies. Facebook will also show you additional context about Pages to effectively assess their content. For example, you can see whether a Page has changed its name.

Why Is Facebook Doing This

The company knows it is slow to pick-up foreign interference in the 2016 US elections. Today’s updates are designed to prevent future abuse in elections — and to help ensure you have the information that you need to assess political and issue ads, as well as content on Pages. By increasing transparency around ads and Pages on Facebook, Facebook can increase accountability for advertisers — improving our service for everyone.
https://www.facebook.com/facebook/videos/10157262455526729/   

  

Founded in 2004, Facebook’s mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected. People use Facebook to stay connected with friends and family, to discover what is going on in the world, and to share and express what matters to them. Facebook has 2.07 billion monthly active users and 1.37 billion daily active users on average worldwide and 10 million daily users and 22 million monthly active users from Nigeria.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Unilever named most successful brand among FT500

Image
Unilever has been named as the most successful brand among the FT 500 for meeting its philanthropic goals, according to a recent study by Radley Yeldar. Unilever’s sustainability strategy was found to have made the biggest impact of all the companies listed in the FT 500 and the FTSE Eurofirst 100, having achieved the goals set out in its ‘making sustainable life commonplace’ mission statement. Radley Yeldar ranked the British-Dutch multinational consumer goods company number 1 on its Fit for Purpose Index 2015 which assesses and ranks companies based on how they live up to the altruistic promises set out in their brand purpose. The success of Unilever’s Bright Future project was the main driver behind its number 1 ranking. The ongoing initiative is a partnership with the WWF and promotes sustainable manufacturing of its products and a pledge of zero deforestation in doing so. In assessing the strength and impact of Unilever- whose brands include Dove and Dome...
Read more

Nigeria now emerging hub for pharma market expansion in Africa

Image
A s growth opportunities continue to move away from traditional pharmaceutical markets and growth patterns in developed markets continue to flatten, many multinational companies (MNCs) like Norvatis, Pfizer, Sanofi, Johnson & Johnson, etc. look toward Africa, including Nigeria for their expanding global footprint. This is evident following GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) plan to invest over $200million in Africa over the next five years, expanding manufacturing in Nigeria and Kenya and building five new factories-Rwanda, Ghana and Ethiopia given its attractive long-term growth potential. With a growing middle class of expected annual disposable income in excess of $1 trillion by 2023, increasing awareness of healthier lifestyles, and a combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $2.9 trillion, rising population growth is emerging as a melting pot for pharmaceutical expansion. Interestingly, of the four MINT countries (Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Turkey), Nigeria’s...
Read more

Policy on healthcare waste management absent in Nigeria

Image
A cross section of medical waste disposal containers   …training of health workers on quality control imminent The sustainable management of healthcare waste (HCW) has over the years continued to attract increasing public interest especially public health and environmental experts given the health problems associated with exposure of humans to potentially hazardous wastes arising from healthcare. With these wastes said to contain materials considered harmful and can cause ill health to those exposed to it, often times, it has been shown that inappropriate handling and disposal of healthcare waste poses health risks to health workers who may be directly exposed and to people near health facilities, particularly children and scavengers who may become exposed to infectious wastes and a higher risk of diseases like hepatitis and HIV/AIDS. Even as considerable gap exist with regards to assessment of healthcare waste management practices in Nigeria compared with international best...
Read more