Facebook Broadens International Transparency Efforts for Political Ads -- Update

   By Josh Beckerman

Facebook Inc.'s (FB) efforts to improve the transparency of political advertisements are expanding to more countries.

An authorization process involving confirmation of the buyer's identity and "paid for by" disclaimers is available in more than 50 countries.

A shorter list where "proactive enforcement" is planned focuses on "countries where elections or regulations are approaching," starting with Ukraine, Singapore, Canada and Argentina.

The company said on its website that it would "systematically detect and review ads in Ukraine and Canada through a combination of automated and human review" starting Tuesday, while enforcement in Singapore and Argentina will start within a few months.

After Facebook was criticized for Russia-linked content related to the U.S. 2016 presidential election, the company took steps including cracking down on "coordinated inauthentic behavior," launching a searchable public database of ads and ending commissions for employees who sell political ads.

Facebook said "we know we can't do this alone," so it is also rolling out access to its Ad Library API globally to help regulators, journalists, watchdog groups and others analyze ads.

Write to Josh Beckerman at josh.beckerman@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 25, 2019 14:15 ET (18:15 GMT)

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