Facebook tightens political ad rules ahead of US 2020 election

Facebook has revealed that it is taking more steps to protect the 2020 forthcoming election in the United States.

According to the biggest social media platform, the steps include stricter identification requirements for people and organizations running political or issue ads.

This development is coming after a “number of cases” in which advertisers tried to include misleading disclaimers about who was paying for an ad, the social network said in a blog post on Wednesday.

This new verification can be done by submitting a tax identification number or proof that the group is registered with the Federal Election Commission.

 “People should know who is trying to influence their vote and advertisers shouldn’t be able to cover up who is paying for ads,” a Facebook blog post said.

The new steps call for “strengthening the authorization process for US advertisers, showing people more information about each advertiser and updating our list of social issues” for advertisers.

Facebook said organizations that fail to submit the verification will see their ads “paused” by mid-October.

Smaller businesses or local politicians unable to meet the new requirements may still be able to place ads on Facebook by providing a verifiable phone number and mailing address or personal information, but the ads will not be tagged as being from a “confirmed organization.”

Facebook said it planned to make improvements to its “ad library” to more easily track and compare spending of US presidential candidates.

It also said it would prohibit ads “that expressly discourage people in the US from voting,” in response to recent civil rights audit.

Account-holders for national candidates will be required to use two-factor authentication and verify their location “so that we can confirm these pages are using real accounts and are located in the US,” Facebook said.