Facebook has become a popular and successful platform for many brands, and the political world has taken notice. But like many digital platforms of late, things are changing at Facebook on May 22nd, and political candidates and issue marketers should pay attention.

A significant change is that advertisers must now make their identities and locations known to the public when posting ads on Facebook. They have to follow a series of steps to be allowed to advertise, and the advisements must be properly labeled. These changes hope to increase transparency and authenticity of its pages while also protecting the integrity of elections and political ads they run.

Last fall, they announced that the new changes to come included:

View Ads

This allows people to view all ads that a page is running, regardless if they are included in the target audience or not.

Authorization Process

The page and ad account admin must present a government-issued ID as well as their residential mailing address in order to be mailed a unique access code for their Facebook page; they must then proceed to disclose who paid for the advertisements.

Ads Archive

People will be able to search and view all ads on Facebook. They will be able to view the approved disclaimer, who it is paid for by, as well the ads performance.

Formatting

All political ads must include “This is a political ad” and “Paid for by…”

Important Upcoming Dates

On May 22, 2018, all properly labeled political ads will appear to the public–being run by authorized advertisers only. By June 4, 2018, all active political ads will be recreated to meet the new policy standards.

All Facebook political ads were to be labeled as such by May 7, 2018. Once they are labeled, they are saved in the Ads Archive where they will remain for seven years. Facebook users will be able to report any ad they believe to be political and unlabeled. Upon review, reported ads will be disapproved and advertisers will have to recreate them.

What does this mean looking forward?

These policy changes will make it more difficult for the wrong people or bot accounts to interfere with the election process, and instigate hateful or demeaning conversations. Pages will also be more transparent, making it harder for those fake accounts to be created. Facebook obviously knows that every single unauthorized ad or account won’t be caught. With the new changes, however, there is hope that users will report those who violate policy, and hope to stop the spread of misinformation through political ads.Morgan & Co. is an audience, media and analytics agency that produces smart strategies to help clients achieve their goals. If you need help navigating the new Facebook policy, or are in need of a digital or offline media strategy that delivers results, contact us today.