Social Media

Political Ads On Facebook Will Soon Go Through More Scrutiny

Facebook is launching a more rigorous verification process for political ads to help users "gauge the legitimacy" of the organizations behind them.

Political Ads On Facebook Will Soon Go Through More Scrutiny
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Facebook is making more changes to how the site handles political ads. 

On Wednesday, the social media giant announced it will launch a more rigorous verification process for ads about social issues, elections or politics. 

Last year, Facebook started requiring political advertisers to confirm their identity and location. But the company now admits that some people were providing misleading information, effectively defeating the ad verification process. 

Starting in September, advertisers will need to provide more details, like an identification number from the IRS or the Federal Election Commission. Ads from companies with government verification will show up on Facebook as a "Confirmed Organization," and all those organization details will be available for users. 

Facebook says the change "will allow people to confidently gauge the legitimacy of an organization and quickly raise questions or concerns if they find anything out of the ordinary." But it's worth noting that the additional advertiser information is only informative if Facebook users click on the links to learn more.