Facebook brings political ads under more scrutiny
San Francisco, April 7: In order to prevent election interference on its platform, Facebook has introduced new changes to increase transparency and accountability for electoral ads and Pages.
To get authorised by Facebook, advertisers will now need to confirm their identity and location.
"Advertisers will be prohibited from running political ads -- electoral or issue-based -- until they are authorised," Rob Goldman, Vice President, Ads at Facebook, said in a blog post late Friday.
Last year, the social media platform announced that only authorised advertisers will be able to run electoral ads on Facebook or Instagram.
"In addition, these ads will be clearly labeled in the top left corner as aPolitical Ad'. Next to it, we will show 'paid for by' information," added Alex Himel, Vice President, Local and Pages.
"We started testing the authorisation process this week, and people will begin seeing the label and additional information in the US later this spring," the blog post added.
Facebook is also investing in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and adding more people to help find advertisers that should have gone through the authorisation process but did not.
The company has also asked users to report if they see an unlabeled political ad.
People can do this by tapping the three dots at the top right corner of the ad and selecting "Report Ad."
In Canada, Facebook is testing a new feature called "view ads" that lets you see the ads a Page is running even if they are not in your News Feed.
"This applies to all advertiser Pages on Facebook -- not just Pages running political ads. We plan to launch view ads globally in June," the post added.
In June, Facebook also plans to release a public, searchable political ads archive.
This will contain all ads with the "Political Ad" label, and will show the image and text, as well as additional information like the amount spent and demographic audience information for each ad.
"We're also announcing that people who manage Pages with large numbers of followers will need to be verified," said Goldman.
Those who manage large Pages that do not clear the process will no longer be able to post.
The new updates, Facebook said, are designed to prevent future abuse in elections.
Earlier this week, Facebook showed country-specific break-up of people affected by the data breach, saying information of up to 87 million people, mostly in the US, may have been "improperly" shared with British political consultancy firm Cambridge Analytica via a quiz app, "thisisyourdigitallife", between November 2013 and December 2015.
The British political research organisation, which collaborated with Donald Trump's campaign in the run-up to the 2016 US Presidential election, used the leaked information to develop a computer programme to predict the decisions of US voters and allegedly influence them.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
New trains to ease crowding on Namma Metro Purple-Green lines in Bengaluru
Bengaluru: Commuters on the crowded Namma Metro Purple and Green lines may soon get relief, as the Railway Board has issued provisional sanction for induction of new train sets, Deccan Herald reported.
The Railway Board communicated the provisional sanction to the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) in a letter on April 1, raising hopes that additional trains could be deployed during peak hours by May-June.
According to the Railway Board, the approval comes with conditions, including a maximum speed of 80 kmph in fully inflated mode and 25 kmph in deflated mode of the secondary air spring.
The BMRCL will also need a separate sanction from the Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety (CMRS) by submitting the Independent Safety Assessment (ISA) report confirming the trains’ integration, operation, and compatibility with the Direct To Go (DTG) signalling and train control system for the Purple and Green lines.
The BMRCL has received three DTG trains, including a prototype delivered in January 2025, for the Purple and Green lines. The trains must pass 37 statutory clearances before entering passenger service.
The BMRCL had approached the Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO), under the Ministry of Railways, to conduct statutory trials related to oscillation, braking, speed and system integration tests for the trains. The CMRS will issue the final sanction after receiving the ISA certificate.
Officials said the ISA certification process is already underway, with new signalling software currently being tested. Final approvals are expected by May-June, after which the trains can be introduced into service.
The new trains have been supplied by China's CRRC Nanjing Puzhen Co Ltd, which will deliver a total of 21 trains for the Purple and Green lines in partnership with the West Bengal-based Titagarh Rail Systems Ltd (TRSL). Currently, the network operates with 57 trains supplied by BEML.
