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.
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Metro announcements, QR code-based parking to ease access to R-Day parade in Delhi
New Delhi (PTI): From metro station announcements to a QR code-based parking system, a series of measures have been rolled out for Republic Day celebrations along the Kartavya Path in Delhi, officials said on Sunday.
While the metro announcements will guide ticket and pass holders travelling to the parade venue, the QR code-based system will help nearly 8,000 vehicles park at designated locations close to the respective seating enclosures.
All enclosures for this year's Republic Day parade have been named after rivers, and commuters will be directed to specific metro stations depending on whether their allotted seating enclosure lies to the north or south of the Kartavya Path, officials said.
According to the announcements, spectators seated on the southern side and allotted enclosures such as Beas, Brahmaputra, Chambal, Chenab, Gandak, Ganga, Ghagra, Godavari, Sindhu and Jhelum will be asked to get down at Udyog Bhawan Metro Station.
Those holding tickets for the northern side, with enclosures including Kaveri, Kosi, Krishna, Mahanadi, Narmada, Pennar, Periyar, Ravi, Son, Satluj, Teesta, Vaigai and Yamuna, are being advised to exit at the Central Secretariat Metro Station.
Officials said pedestrian pathways have also been aligned with enclosures named after rivers to ensure smoother access and reduce congestion on the parade day.
A senior official said a QR code-based parking system has been introduced to assist spectators arriving by vehicles. The system covers 22 designated parking lots and is aimed at accommodating nearly 8,000 vehicles.
Under the arrangement, parking pass holders can scan the QR codes printed on their passes to access real-time directions to the parking lots closest to their seating enclosures, from where they can walk to their seats.
The official said around 77,000 passes are issued to spectators for the Republic Day parade every year, of which about 8,000 are meant for those arriving by vehicles.
"The system is intended to minimise confusion and streamline vehicle movement during the celebrations," a senior police officer said.
Spectators have been advised to rely on metro services as far as possible and follow announcements and signage for smooth access to Kartavya Path, he added.
