Facebook's new ad transparency initiatives

Following a recent fine for failing to protect users’ information, Facebook’s move to transparency continues.

This ranges from a greater level of openness around how users are targeted - to insisting that political ads include information about who paid for them.

Advertisers are now required to specify the origin of audience information used for ad campaigns, confirming that data is sourced from one of three options:

- Directly from customers: Advertisers collected information directly from their customers.
- Customers and partners: Advertisers collected information directly from their customers and it was also sourced from their partners (i.e. agencies).
- Directly from partners: Advertisers sourced information directly from their partners (i.e. agencies or data providers).

This means a new experience for Facebook users too. When ads are served users will have the option of accessing a ‘why am I seeing this’ drop-down menu to view the source of the information used to engage with them. This could be through their phone number or email address.

Facebook have also launched a new ‘view ads’ feature that enables a user to see all the ads a page is running even if they are not in their newsfeed. This only includes the ads, not engagement and comments with those ads. For clients this may have implications around serving particular messaging or offers to certain audiences, as all ads being run are now available to any interested party.

Clients and agencies are now required to establish an audience-sharing relationship through Facebook’s ad platform, agreeing to Facebook’s Custom Audience Terms. It remains the case that advertisers are ultimately responsible for securing the necessary permissions to use and share customer data.

If you have any further questions about any of this, please don't hesitate to get in touch: https://www.brayleinocx.co.uk/contact/