Meta

Shining a Light on Ads With Political Content

By Rob Leathern, Director of Product Management

Update on May 21, 2025 at 6:55AM PT:

On May 24, 2025, the first ads about social issues, elections or politics that were archived for seven years will begin to exit the Ad Library, API and Ad Library Report. This is consistent with the promised 7-year retention commitment when we launched the Ad Library in 2018. For more information, visit the Ad Library or the Business Help Center

Originally published on May 24, 2018 at 11:00AM PT: 

As we announced last month, we’re making big changes to the way ads with political content work on Facebook to help prevent abuse, especially during elections.

We believe that increased transparency will lead to increased accountability and responsibility over time – not just for Facebook but advertisers as well. We’re investing heavily in more people and better technology to proactively identify abuse. But if you see an ad which you believe has political content and isn’t labeled, please report it. Tap the three dots at the top right-hand corner of the ad, select “report,” and then “it refers to a political candidate or issue.” Facebook will review the ad, and if it falls under our Political Advertising policy, we’ll take it down and add it to the archive. The advertiser will then be banned from running ads with political content until they complete our authorization process. And we’ll follow up to let you know what happened to the ad you reported. This is the tool that makes it easier for you to find problems, which we want. We invite you to report any ad so we get better, faster.

We know that outside experts, researchers, and academics can also help by analyzing political advertising on Facebook. It’s why we’re working closely with our newly-formed Election Commission and other stakeholders to launch an API for the archive.

We also recognize that news coverage of elections and important issues is distinct from advocacy or electoral ads, even if those news stories receive paid distribution on Facebook. We’re working closely with news partners and are committed to updating the archive to help differentiate between news and non-news content.

These changes will not prevent abuse entirely. We’re up against smart, creative and well-funded adversaries who change their tactics as we spot abuse. But we believe that they will help prevent future interference in elections on Facebook. And it is why they are so important.