India: Facebook Political Ads Ahead Of 2019 Election Must Be Verified

Indira Datta - Jan 10, 2019

This information has been announced via emails to politicians. Facebook is trying to prevent bad players in the general election this year.

In order to avoid damage or sensitive rumors in politics, this year Facebook focused on controlling political ads on its social media service before the upcoming 2019 election. In early January, Facebook announced that there will be requirements on verification of identity and location for political advertisers before they can run a campaign.

Facebook has emailed and updated new policies to political advertisers

Ahead of the General Election in 2019, political advertisers always want to push their names closer to the citizens through social networks. Facebook recently launched an offline verification system to confirm its neutrality in the election process.

In particular, political advertisers must submit the copies of their address and identity proof to make sure they are real. The evidence will be verified by the Facebook management team in India. Advertisers can choose to receive approval information via the post on Facebook.

Facebook has sent an email to political advertisers wishing to use this social networking platform to boost their campaigns. Accordingly, there will be a department to verify these identities and the location is real or not, in person. This is the first time Facebook has confirmed the identity of political advertisers from the ground level to prevent bad players from violating its policies.

Earlier this month, the new policies of Facebook advertising with more transparent were sent to political advertisers across the country. In particular, Facebook stressed that the company will not be responsible for any advertising start from the beginning of 2020. Besides, it will provide information about individuals or organizations organizing the campaign next to the ads store publicly so that everyone knows who is responsible for the content on that ad.

Previously, Facebook also changed some terms in the regulation of political advertising with the aim of preventing the platform from taking advantage of malicious people before the 2019 election.

A Facebook spokesman said the company was very serious in its commitment to maintaining the integrity of this year's election. Engineers in the company have increased the security and defense capabilities of the platform for many months. At the same time, the company has done a lot to protect the integrity of the election and prevent hackers or anyone from interfering.