Facebook relaxes its policy on social-issues ads

Facebook has released an update to its social issues ad policy that would essentially relax the social issues criteria, allowing more advertisements to run without the 'paid for by' disclaimer notice.

In the aftermath of the 2016 US Presidential Election, Facebook imposed a slew of new limits and parameters on political and issue-based advertisements, ostensibly to make it clearer who is paying and pushing efforts to sway public opinion.

All advertisers who want to run political or issue advertising must be authenticated, which is a significant component of this.

To demonstrate the change, Facebook has supplied a few examples:

“No longer a social issue ad: “Our new show, “Our Only Future,” on how we can tackle climate change will premiere next month in your city. Purchase your early-bird tickets now for €10.”

Facebook believes that approval and the 'paid for by' statement are no longer required because this ad promotes a commodity rather than advocating a specific social problem.

Social issue ad: “Our leather patches just arrived. Each patch is embroidered with ‘Support refugees.’ Shop now!”