Facebook allows users to see all ads on Pages, flag suspicious ones
San Francisco, June 29 : After coming under the scanner for alleged Russian meddling in 2016 US Presidential election through Facebook, the social networking giant has now decided to allow users to see the active ads a Page is running and flag suspicious ones.
"The hope of the announcement today is that it will hold us accountable, it will hold advertisers accountable -- but it will also give people a lot more ability to find things that maybe shouldn't be up. Or find things that might be misleading so that we can take actions," Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg said on Thursday.
"Our ultimate goal is very simple: we want to reduce bad ads, we want to make sure that people understand what they're seeing, who paid for it, and the fullness of what other people might see," Sandberg said while addressing the media at Facebook's Menlo Park headquarters in California.
As part of the new transparency initiatives, Facebook said users will be able to see the ads a Page is running across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and its partner network, even if those ads are not targeted at them.
The Pages will now have an "Info and Ads" section which will have information about the ads and allow users to flag anything suspicious by clicking on "Report Ad."
"You can also learn more about Pages, even if they don't advertise. For example, you can see any recent name changes and the date the Page was created. We'll be adding more Page information in the coming weeks," Rob Leathern, Facebook's Director of Product Management and the company's Product Marketing Director Emma Rodgers said in a statement.
Facebook said it will also soon launch its political ads labeling and archive in Brazil, ahead of October's general election. Facebook launched this initiative in the US in May.
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.
SIR rolled out to 'cut' SC, BC, minorities votes; Cong will protect them: K'taka deputy CM
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Friday charged the SIR of electoral rolls was being rolled out to "cut" SC, BC and minorities votes, and said the ruling Congress in the state will ensure that they are "protected".
Shivakumar, also the state Congress chief, said that the party is educating all its leaders regarding Special Intensive Revision of the electoral rolls.
The Election Commission of India on Thursday announced the rollout of phase-3 of the SIR in 16 states and three Union Territories involving 36.73 crore voters in a phased manner beginning May 30. Karnataka was also being covered.
"We know that (SIR being rolled out), we have got all information. We are educating all the party leaders. Across the party line -- let BJP and JD(S) also secure all their votes," Shivakumar said.
Speaking to reporters here, he said, "it's (SIR) aim is to see to that Scheduled Caste, backward class and the minority votes are cut. But we will see that it is protected. Every one born in India should have their right."
"In Karnataka 88 to 90 per cent has been mapped (mapping of electors). But still we will try to educate all of them," he added.
Punjab, Jharkhand, Karnataka and Telangana are the opposition-ruled among the states where the SIR exercise will be held.
The final voters' roll of Karnataka will be out on October 7.
A section of leaders and organisations opposed to SIR had met Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah last week and urged the government to take urgent steps to protect the voting rights of the state's electorate from the process.
They termed the Special Intensive Revision an "undemocratic and unscientific" process that "pushes out" voters.
