Facing criticism globally over the misuse of its platform during elections, Facebook, on Saturday, announced steps to increase advertisement transparency and insulate the platform against foreign interference ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
According to new guidelines, political parties or individuals aspiring to run an advertisement related to politics will need to confirm their identity and location and give more details about who placed the advertisement. "It's important that people know more about the ads they see — especially those that reference political figures, political parties, elections, and legislation," said Sarah Clark Schiff, product manager at Facebook, adding, "That's why we're making big changes to the way we manage these ads on Facebook and Instagram."
She said such changes have already been rolled out in the US, Brazil and the UK to prevent abuse on Facebook, adding that they are now taking the first steps towards bringing transparency to ads related to politics in India.
She said the advertisers in India will have to comply with new rules with immediate effect. "Identity and location confirmation will take a few weeks," informed Schiff, "but advertisers can start the process by using their mobile phones or computer to submit proof of identity and location. This will help avoid delays when they run political ads next year."
Advertisers in India can download the latest Facebook app and go to Settings to get started.
By early 2019, Facebook will put a disclaimer on all political ads with information on who has placed the ad, and provide an online searchable 'ad library'. "This is a library of all ads related to politics from a particular advertiser as well as information such as the budget associated with an individual ad, a range of impressions, as well as demographics of who viewed the ad," explained Schiff.
The Facebook manager said the new policy will also require all ads related to politics be run by an advertiser who has completed the authorizations process and is labelled with a disclaimer. "We will not require eligible news publishers to get authorized, and we won't include their ads in the Ad Library. By authorizing advertisers and bringing more transparency to ads, we can better defend against foreign interference in India's elections," she concluded.