Facebook is making significant steps to bring more transparency to ads and Pages, in light of Cambridge Analytica scandal this year. The company has launched a new feature that gives people more information about any organization and the ads it’s currently running and more information about the page’s recent name changes.
Rob Leathern, Director of Product Management and Emma Rodgers, Product Marketing Director said in a press release that “The vast majority of ads on Facebook are run by legitimate organizations — whether it’s a small business looking for new customers, an advocacy group raising money for their cause, or a politician running for office. But we’ve seen that bad actors can misuse our products, too. These steps are just the start — we’re always looking for more ways to improve. By shining a bright light on all ads, as well as the Pages that run them, we’ll make it easier to root out abuse – helping to ensure that bad actors are held accountable for the ads they run.”
- View Active Ads: You can now see the ads a Page is running across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and partner network, even if those ads aren’t shown to you. Just log into Facebook, visit any Page and select “Info and Ads.” You’ll see ad creative and copy, and you can flag anything suspicious by clicking on “Report Ad.”
- More Page Information: You can also learn more about Pages, even if they don’t advertise. For example, you can see any recent name changes and the date the Page was created.
This move comes after the launch of political ads transparency which was first introduced in the US last May. Americans will see labels for election ads in their country.
