Facebook has unveiled new political advertising rules ahead of next year’s US presidential election amid fears the platform will be exploited.
Political advertisers will now have to verify their identity before being given a “confirmed organisation” label.
It marks the latest in a series of attempts to address incidents where users placed misleading or inaccurate ads to influence voters.
The rules will also apply to Instagram, which is owned by Facebook.
Paid-for Facebook ads have become a popular tool for political campaigns and other organisations to target voters.
The platform previously revealed that the 2016 Trump campaign had spent in the region of $70m (£57.3m) on ads over the election period.
Facebook has been rolling out transparency tools on a country-by-country basis ever since reports claimed that Russia-based agents had uploaded content to influence voters during the 2016 presidential election.
Facebook has required political advertisers in the US to put a “paid for” disclaimer on their ads since 2018, but the changes have not completely stamped out improper use.
