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Facebook Aims for Transparency in Updated Ad Policies Ahead of U.S. Midterm Elections

An illustration of Facebook seen in a smartphone. Image credit: Stock Catalog, www.thoughtcatalog.com (CC BY 2.0) via Flickr

Facebook recently introduced some changes to its advertisement policies in preparation for the upcoming midterm polls in the United States.

While conventional forms of campaigning are still being carried out by politicians, advertisements through social media platforms can really bring good results considering the number of people who are regularly signing in to Facebook, Twitter and other social networking websites.

However, as Digital Trends noted, Facebook faced criticisms in the past for the way it handled political ads, especially following the 2016 U.S. presidential elections. The Attorney General's office in the state of Washington also slammed Facebook with a lawsuit last month for allegedly refusing to disclose information on political ads, including how much has been paid for them and who the people paying for these ads were.

And now that the midterm polls are slowly approaching, Facebook announced much-needed changes that will primarily affect political ads. Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg said in a press conference last Thursday that the social media site is now aiming to be more transparent with the advertisements posted on Facebook.

To do that Facebook is launching the “Info and Ads” menu option lined up with the page’s Home, About, and other sections. Once a user clicks on this button, Facebook users will be redirected to a page that shows paid posts that are currently active. It will also show other ads that may not appear on a user’s news feed if they “aren't part of the advertiser's intended audience.”

The Info and Ads page will also show paid posts actively running on Instagram and other Facebook-owned platforms, including WhatsApp, Oculus, Moves, Masquerade, CrowdTangle, and more.

It can also be recalled that Twitter also announced the launch of its Ads Transparency Center, which is designed to give users more details on active political campaign ads, including how much a politician has spent on Twitter ads.

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