Facebook wants to increase its transparency in election advertising before the US presidential election in 2020. „People should know who is trying to influence their choices, and advertisers should not be able to disguise who pays for the ads,“ the social network said yesterday.
Facebook has come under increasing pressure since the scandal surrounding alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election to improve its transparency.
Stricter rules from September
From mid-September, stricter rules for the authorization process for US advertisers will now apply. In the future, they would have to divulge more information about their organization in order to be admitted, it said. If they do not follow the new rules until mid-October, their ads would be stopped, Facebook said.
One of the reasons for the tightening of the rules is that advertisers have in some cases attempted to mislead disclaimers with the words „paid by“ on their advertisements. With the step to make it difficult for advertisers to hide who is hiding behind the advertising, said Facebook.
