Meta has shared tools and resources that will provide more information about political advertising on Facebook and Instagram ahead of the Kenya 2022 general elections that will be held in August.
According to Tech Weez, the social media and tech company is trying to enhance transparency in political advertising as much as possible to help users know who is behind the ads posted on its social sites, as well as help political advertisers engage with their supporters on both Facebook and Instagram.
Meta says that it will verify advertisers who want to run political ads in Kenya and they will have to provide proof that they live in the country.
The company will also run additional checks to ensure that advertisers are complying with the company’s policies. All political ads in Kenya during the election period will be labelled “Paid for by” so that people know who is behind the ads.
Moreover, users will be able to control what type of ads they want to see on their feeds. They can choose to see fewer ads about the elections if they want to and when they choose that option they will no longer see ads with the disclaimer “Paid for by”.
Meta will also put all the political ads in Kenya on their Ads Library so that everyone can see what ads are running, information about the elections, and how much was spent. They will remain in the library for 7 years, according to The Star.
“Meta has continued to invest in technology towards election integrity. We believe political discussion and debate should be transparent to every voter, which is why over the past few years we’ve introduced a number of tools that provide more information about political ads on Facebook and Instagram,” said Meta Public Policy Director East and Horn of Africa, Mercy Ndegwa.
By Zintle Nkohla
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