Allowing the Promotion of Non-Medical Masks on Facebook
Allowing the Promotion of Non-Medical Masks on Facebook
Facebook BusinessBy Rob Leathern, Director, Product Management
Since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, governments and authorities around the world have evolved their guidance on the need to wear masks. In March 2020, we temporarily banned ads and commerce listings for masks on our apps to help protect against scams, misleading medical claims, medical supply shortages, inflated prices and hoarding. Since then, we’ve continued to monitor trends and activity around COVID-19 to better understand how people are using our platform and advertising tools during the pandemic.
Many health authorities now advise wearing non-medical masks – and in some places masks are required for activities like taking public transportation or visiting a store – and we’ve seen people and businesses of all sizes working to fill this need. So we’re scaling back this temporary ban to allow people to promote and trade non-medical masks, including those that are homemade or handmade, in organic posts, ads and commerce listings on Facebook and Instagram. We will still maintain a temporary ban on selling medical masks, such as surgical or N95 masks, to prevent people from exploiting the pandemic for financial gain.
How We Define a Non-Medical Mask
People will now be able to promote masks that are non-medical grade, provided they are not marketed using medical, health or prevention claims. Common examples of non-medical masks include handmade masks, reusable masks or masks created out of household fabrics (e.g. cotton, cloth, denim, etc.) or refashioned non-conventional materials (e.g. neoprene, wetsuits, board shorts, etc.).
Advertiser Restrictions for Non-Medical Masks
Advertisers must currently be in good standing to advertise non-medical masks, with a minimum advertising history of four months.
And in countries where we have seen high percentages of policy-violating ads promoting medical supplies during the temporary ban, advertisers will only be able to target non-medical mask ads to people in the country where their ad account is based. We are implementing these restrictions out of an abundance of caution and the restrictions are temporary.
More details about eligibility can be found in our Business Help Center.
We’re monitoring the pandemic carefully, and we’ll continue to reassess our policies over time.
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June 10, 2020
Allowing the Promotion of Non-Medical Masks on Facebook
By Rob Leathern
Director, Product Management
S
Many health authorities now advise wearing non-medical masks – and in some places masks are required for activities like taking public transportation or visiting a store – and we’ve seen people and businesses of all sizes working to fill this need. So we’re scaling back this temporary ban to allow people to promote and trade non-medical masks, including those that are homemade or handmade, in organic posts, ads and commerce listings on Facebook and Instagram. We will still maintain a temporary ban on selling medical masks, such as surgical or N95 masks, to prevent people from exploiting the pandemic for financial gain.
How We Define a Non-Medical Mask
People will now be able to promote masks that are non-medical grade, provided they are not marketed using medical, health or prevention claims. Common examples of non-medical masks include handmade masks, reusable masks or masks created out of household fabrics (e.g. cotton, cloth, denim, etc.) or refashioned non-conventional materials (e.g. neoprene, wetsuits, board shorts, etc.).
Advertiser Restrictions for Non-Medical Masks
Advertisers must currently be in good standing to advertise non-medical masks, with a minimum advertising history of four months.
And in countries where we have seen high percentages of policy-violating ads promoting medical supplies during the temporary ban, advertisers will only be able to target non-medical mask ads to people in the country where their ad account is based. We are implementing these restrictions out of an abundance of caution and the restrictions are temporary.
More details about eligibility can be found in our Business Help Center.
We’re monitoring the pandemic carefully, and we’ll continue to reassess our policies over time.
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