Facebook Launches Tool For Global Users To Investigate Ads

Facebook has taken a new action to help you have a better understanding of the advertisements flowing through its platform.

On Thursday, the social giant said that its public database will be expanded so that users can search for and find info about ads related to politics or nationally important issues in certain countries and regions. Facebook has also changed the name of this database in the US from Ad Archive into Ad Library, which will now show active advertisements running on particular Facebook pages.

Previously, to see what ads a page is running, users had to open the “info and ads” section on that specific page. However, from now, they can simply visit the Ad Library where they can look up ads by page rather than keywords. In addition, users can also report an ad here if it violates the platform’s rules.

Product manager Satwik Shukla at Facebook writes in a blog post:

In 2018, Facebook rolled out this ad transparency tool after criticism about its failure in blocking foreign entities from interfering the 2016 presidential election in the US. At the time, the social giant found that in the 2015-2017 period, Russian trolls bought over 3,000 ads to spread hate ahead and after the election.

Facebook has since trying to provide users with more info on the ads running on its site. If users search for politics-related ads, they can also view who sponsor the ad, the amount paid, viewers of the ad and the number of views obtained.

However, there were complaints that the tool misclassified their advertisements as related to politics or issues of national importance. Moreover, Vice News, Business Insider, and other media outlets also discovered loopholes where the tool could be abused. The publications then got approved to publish ads that they classify as paid by parties like Cambridge Analytica’s VP Mike Pence, the Islamic State, as well as all 100 senators of the United States. Later, Facebook was called by lawmakers to fix the tool.

The social giant also made announcements on other changes to enhance ad transparency on its network.

In the Ad Library, people can check for the time of creation of a Facebook page, whether or not it has changed its name or merged with other pages. They can also see the location of the page managers in case a page with large audience run or issue political ads where the tool is accessible.

The “page transparency” section will also display this information.

Plus, access to the Ad Library is also available to more users so that they can analyze political or issues advertisements. The platform doesn’t require select news publishers to verify themselves or label their advertisements as related to politics or issues of national importance anymore. This May, Facebook will update reports about political and issue advertisements daily rather than weekly.

After its first launch in the US, the tool made its way to other countries like India, Brazil, the UK, Israel, and Ukraine. The company also intends to launch the tool in Europe ahead of the European Parliament election this May. Facebook said that by the end of June, the tool will be accessible globally.