NEW YORK (AP) — Facebook says it will require advertisers who want to run either political ads or so-called “issue ads” —which may not endorse a specific candidate or party but which discuss political topics— to verify themselves.
Facebook is working to strengthen its system ahead of this year’s U.S. midterm elections and other elections around the world. The company has already required political ads to verify who is paying for them and where the advertiser is located. The requirement for issue ads is new.
In addition, Facebook says it will also require the administrators of pages with a “large number” of followers to verify their identities and addresses. The company did not specify what number of followers would trigger the requirement.
The moves are intended to clamp down on fake pages and accounts such as those used to disrupt the 2016 presidential elections in the U.S. and elsewhere.
