Requiring Authorization for Ads About Elections and Politics in 32 Additional Countries

UPDATE - June 24, 2020 9AM PT We will begin enforcement in all previously announced countries in early August. Enforcement has already begun in Sri Lanka, and in New Zealand enforcement will start in July. Advertisers should refer to our Help Center for more information on the authorization process and policy requirements in each country.

UPDATE - March 26th, 2020 9:30AM PT We've decided, due to a reduced and remote workforce, that advertisers in these countries will no longer be able to go through the authorization process until further notice.

UPDATE - March 20th, 2020 8:30AM PT With our focus on the coronavirus outbreak, and a more reduced and remote ad review team, we've decided to postpone the start of enforcement of political ads in these countries. Advertisers that want to run political or electoral ads should still get authorized.

To enable healthy discourse and serve as a positive force for democracy in countries across the world, we’ve taken steps to reduce the spread of misinformation, help prevent foreign interference in elections and bring greater transparency and authenticity to advertising. In June, we made our ad transparency tools available globally, which enabled advertisers to become authorized to run political ads, place “Paid for by” disclaimers on their ads, and enter their ads in the Ad Library for seven years. Now, we’re making this process a requirement in 32 additional countries, such as Chile, Japan, Mexico and Indonesia, and we’ll begin enforcing our policy on ads about elections or politics. For a full list of the countries that will be impacted when enforcement begins in mid-March, please visit the Help Center. We are also working to expand enforcement to more countries later this year, including Myanmar and Brazil.

Anyone who wants to run ads about elections or politics in these countries will need to confirm their identity with an ID issued from the country they want to run ads in and disclose who is 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 local business address, local 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.

Authorizations may take a few days to complete so advertisers should start this process now to help avoid delays in running these types of ads.

Authorized advertisers will have their ads and the information used to confirm their disclaimer placed in the Ad Library for seven years. There, people can learn more about the ad, such as its range of impressions and spend, as well as demographic information, such as age, gender and location, about the people who saw the ad.

We know we can’t protect elections on our own, which is why we offer researchers, academics, journalists and the public access to the Ad Library API to study and analyze political advertising. Now, ads from all 32 countries will be added to the Ad Library API. In addition, we will introduce the Ad Library Report for each of these countries by the end of April. The report provides aggregated insights for ads about elections and politics, such as total number of ads and spend in the Ad Library. The report is also available as a downloadable file.

Learn more about our policies on ads about elections and politics or find more information on our ad transparency tools and how ads are reviewed in other countries at the Business Help Center.