Facebook introduces stricter rules for political ads

Facebook will tighten the rules that determine who can post political ads. The new rules are initially primarily intended to better protect the upcoming American elections, the social network says.

Facebook will, among other things, check more strictly on the identification of parties who want to place a political advertisement. The new rules should also provide more transparency for users about where an ad comes from. Facebook explains the changes in a blog post. The measures are in preparation for the presidential elections in America, which will take place at the end of 2020.

From September, advertisers must provide more information about themselves before placing a political ad. This concerns, for example, an authentic address, or an e-mail address with a domain name of a government agency. Businesses must provide an official U.S. tax authority registration number. Facebook wants to verify that the advertisers really come from America. Advertisements for which this has not yet happened by mid-October will no longer be shown on the network.

To also accommodate smaller businesses and local politicians who may not be able to show such verification, Facebook says they can provide information such as a business phone number or address. In that case, an ad will not display the text ‘Verified organisation’, but ‘About this ad’. Users can then see more information about a particular ad and why it was placed.

Facebook says it will announce more measures in the coming months. For example, the ‘ads library’ will be refreshed, making it easier to track the ad spend of presidential candidates. It will also become even more difficult in the future to place ads urging US residents not to vote, and the company will show even more information about companies that advertise.