Updates to Ads About Social Issues, Elections, or Politics in Singapore
Updates to Ads About Social Issues, Elections, or Politics in Singapore
Facebook BusinessBy Katie Harbath, Public Policy Director
Facebook has incredible potential to be a positive force for democracy around the world. It gives people a voice regardless of their age or political beliefs, and it encourages debate and the exchange of ideas. To enable healthy discourse in Singapore, we’ve taken steps to reduce the spread of misinformation, help prevent foreign interference in elections and - more recently - to bring greater transparency and authenticity to advertising.
In June, we announced the global rollout of our ad transparency tools, which enabled advertisers in certain countries to become authorized, place “Paid for by” disclaimers on their ads, and enter their ads in the Ad Library for seven years. Starting today, we are making this a requirement in Singapore and will begin proactively enforcing our policy on ads about social issues, elections and politics.
Getting Authorized
Anyone who wants to run ads about social issues, elections or politics in Singapore will need to first confirm their identity and location, and disclose who’s responsible for the ad. An advertiser can select themselves, a Page they run or their organization to appear in the “Paid for by” disclaimer. We require that the advertiser provide additional information, like a phone number, email and website, if they choose to use their organization or Page Name in the disclaimer. These requirements hold advertisers accountable for the ads they run on Facebook and Instagram.
The authorization process is also required for advertisers wanting to run ads related to specific social issues, such as those about Civil and Social Rights, Immigration, Crime, Political Values and Governance. These four social issues were decided based on external consultation and our internal research, which found that Singaporeans discuss, debate or advocate for or against these issues on Facebook. Authorizations may take a few weeks to complete so advertisers should start this process immediately to help avoid delays in running these types of ads.
Ad Library & API
Authorized advertisers will have their ads placed in the Ad Library for seven years, including their disclaimer information. There, people can also learn more about the ad like its range of impressions and spend, as well as demographic information about the people who saw the ad such as age, gender and location.
We know we can’t protect elections on our own, which is why we offer access to the Ad Library API, which we built expressly for researchers, academics, journalists and the public to study political advertising. With today’s news, the results on API queries in Singapore will now be more robust as advertisers are required to authorize and add disclaimers. In addition, we will introduce the Ad Library Report within the next few weeks, which provides people who aren’t as technical with similar information about ads related to social issues, elections or politics.
You can learn more about the ads transparency tools in Singapore here. Our policies are outlined here in full and in the Help Center you can see how ads about social issues, elections or politics are reviewed in other countries.
We will continue to refine and improve our policies and tools as part of our commitment to help protect the integrity of elections in Singapore and around the world.
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September 25, 2019
Updates to Ads About Social Issues, Elections, or Politics in Singapore
By Katie Harbath
Public Policy Director
F
Facebook has incredible potential to be a positive force for democracy around the world. It gives people a voice regardless of their age or political beliefs, and it encourages debate and the exchange of ideas. To enable healthy discourse in Singapore, we’ve taken steps to reduce the spread of misinformation, help prevent foreign interference in elections and - more recently - to bring greater transparency and authenticity to advertising.
In June, we announced the global rollout of our ad transparency tools, which enabled advertisers in certain countries to become authorized, place “Paid for by” disclaimers on their ads, and enter their ads in the Ad Library for seven years. Starting today, we are making this a requirement in Singapore and will begin proactively enforcing our policy on ads about social issues, elections and politics.
Getting Authorized
Anyone who wants to run ads about social issues, elections or politics in Singapore will need to first confirm their identity and location, and disclose who’s responsible for the ad. An advertiser can select themselves, a Page they run or their organization to appear in the “Paid for by” disclaimer. We require that the advertiser provide additional information, like a phone number, email and website, if they choose to use their organization or Page Name in the disclaimer. These requirements hold advertisers accountable for the ads they run on Facebook and Instagram.
The authorization process is also required for advertisers wanting to run ads related to specific social issues, such as those about Civil and Social Rights, Immigration, Crime, Political Values and Governance. These four social issues were decided based on external consultation and our internal research, which found that Singaporeans discuss, debate or advocate for or against these issues on Facebook. Authorizations may take a few weeks to complete so advertisers should start this process immediately to help avoid delays in running these types of ads.
Ad Library & API
Authorized advertisers will have their ads placed in the Ad Library for seven years, including their disclaimer information. There, people can also learn more about the ad like its range of impressions and spend, as well as demographic information about the people who saw the ad such as age, gender and location.
We know we can’t protect elections on our own, which is why we offer access to the Ad Library API, which we built expressly for researchers, academics, journalists and the public to study political advertising. With today’s news, the results on API queries in Singapore will now be more robust as advertisers are required to authorize and add disclaimers. In addition, we will introduce the Ad Library Report within the next few weeks, which provides people who aren’t as technical with similar information about ads related to social issues, elections or politics.
You can learn more about the ads transparency tools in Singapore here. Our policies are outlined here in full and in the Help Center you can see how ads about social issues, elections or politics are reviewed in other countries.
We will continue to refine and improve our policies and tools as part of our commitment to help protect the integrity of elections in Singapore and around the world.
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