Facebook to Label Political Ads and Note their Investor

• Facebook implements a new rule where electoral advertisers will have to identify themselves to publish their ads.
• Furthermore, if it is a “Political Ad”, the advertisers will have to label them as such and also disclose who is paying for the ad.
• Other verification measures have also been taken to reduce fake accounts and distribution of misinformation on the platform.

With the recent Cambridge Analytica incident, everyone is afraid of potential social manipulation and its effect during elections. Back in October last year, Facebook stated that they would incorporate a system where electoral advertisers will have to identify themselves. And now, the social media company is planning to expand that functionality to any individual looking to buy ads on political topics discussed around the country or any similar “issues.”

Under Facebook’s new guidelines, anyone buying political ads will have to verify who they are and where they are from. If the advertiser fails to do so, their message won’t be displayed. Furthermore, The advertisers would have to insert the “Political Ad” label on the top left corner of their message and also specify who is paying for the ad. This new feature will take effect in the US starting this spring.

Here's how the Political Ad label and political ad archive will work for you. pic.twitter.com/m16Zg4yOta

— Meta (@Meta) April 6, 2018

Now, the mentioned verification procedure is likely to reduce the number of fake accounts that lingers on the social media platform. Furthermore, this verification option will also extend to users who run large pages. This step has been taken to fight against the propagation of misinformation. However, the main question is - will the platform be able to implement all these features before the 2018 US midterm elections?

Well, the social media giant has reportedly started hiring thousands of more people to help in this endeavor. Company CEO, Mark Zuckerberg recently stated in a post that they have around 15000 people invested in manually reviewing each content, and promises to increase that number to 20000 by the end of the year.

Previously, Zuckerberg was dismissive that Facebook had an impact during the 2016 presidential elections. But now, with all the pressure coming down on the social media network due to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the social media company is driven to eradicate abuse from their platform. In fact, Zuckerberg has also voiced support for the pending transparency-in-advertising legislation, stating, “election interference is a problem that's bigger than any one platform, and that's why we support the Honest Ads Act. This will help raise the bar for all political advertising online.”