Facebook to now label political ads
San Francisco, May 25 : In a fresh bid to prevent foreign interference into elections, Facebook has begun labelling all political and issue ads in the US -- including a "Paid for by" disclosure from the advertiser at the top of the advertisement.
Advertisers wanting to run ads with political content in the US will also need to verify their identity and location, the social media giant said in a blog post late Thursday.
"When you click on the label, you'll be taken to an archive with more information. For example, the campaign budget associated with an individual ad and how many people saw it - including their age, location and gender," said Rob Leathern, Director of Product Management at Facebook.
The changes have currently been introduced in the US.
If people see an ad which they believe has political content and is not labelled, they can report back to Facebook.
To do so, just tap the three dots at the top right-hand corner of the ad, select "report", and then "it refers to a political candidate or issue".
"Facebook will review the ad, and if it falls under our Political Advertising policy, we'll take it down and add it to the archive," Leathern wrote.
The advertiser will then be banned from running ads with political content until they complete Facebook's authorisation process.
"We won't always get it right. We know we'll miss some ads and in other cases we'll identify some we shouldn't. We'll keep working on the process and improve as we go," the company said.
The changes are aimed at preventing a situation like the 2016 US presidential election when Russian advertisers created fake posts and bought ads to interfere in the election process on both Facebook and its photo-sharing platform Instagram.
Facebook said it is working closely with its newly-formed Election Commission and other stakeholders to launch an API for the archive.
"We're working closely with news partners and are committed to updating the archive to help differentiate between news and non-news content," the post added.
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Man in Bengaluru complains of sexual assault; police suspect authenticity of allegation
Bengaluru: A 29-year-old man, who is living as a paying guest (PG) in Doddathoguru in Electronics City for several months, has filed a police complaint alleging that he was sexually assaulted recently while sleeping and woke up with pain in his private parts.
A private hospital also alerted the Electronics City Police of a medico-legal case related to the complainant, who was under treatment at the hospital. An assistant sub-inspector visited the hospital and recorded the man’s statement, according to Times of India.
The complainant, reportedly a native of Bihar, told the officer that he had locked his room while going to bed on April 17 but woke up the next morning with pain in his chest and anus along with ink marks on his hands. Although he suspected that a person had opened the door by removing a screw of the lock and sexually assaulted him, the complainant failed to name a specific person as suspect. He added that he had changed rooms after experiencing sexual targeting by unidentified individuals.
The police registered a case under various sections of the BNS. The probe, however, led them to find that the complainant was an accused in an attempted murder case in 2024, when he had allegedly stabbed a roommate after a fight over a trivial issue. The case is reportedly under trial.
Further, the police have said that the doctors who examined him said that he had not been sexually assaulted. The complainant alleged that the doctors had failed to give a proper report and asked for a second opinion. The doctor who examined him again too ruled out sexual abuse and referred him for psychiatric evaluation at Nimhans Hospital.
The police have alleged that the complainant had not been cooperating with the investigation by repeatedly skipping appointments with the psychiatrist. A senior police officer has opined that the complainant might be attempting to blame the roommate he had assaulted earlier, although the probe is yet to come to a logical conclusion.
The complainant’s family has reportedly told the police that he had a history of mental health issues and had undergone treatment before moving to Bengaluru for work.
City Police Commissioner B Dayananda directed officials in a crime review meeting to take action against those found to be filing false complaints.
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