Facebook has announced it will not accept political
advertisements from outside Nigeria ahead of the upcoming general elections in
a bid to prevent "foreign interference" around the polls
The new policy also takes effect in Ukraine, where
presidential elections will be held in March. Political ad buyers in these
countries must confirm their identity and location and their ads will be
archived in an online library for seven years, the company said in a statement.
Facebook rolled out new measures to increase transparency
about political advertising after data firm Cambridge Analytica obtained the
personal data of as many as 87 million users ahead of the 2016 US elections.
UK authorities fined the social media giant with a £500,000
($645,000) last October, saying that it failed to safeguard user data. In
India, where general elections will be held in April, Facebook said it will
begin to archive electoral ads in an online library starting February.
Facebook announced last week that it will roll out additional
ad transparency tools in the EU in May. "By shining a light on political
ads, news organizations, regulators, watchdog groups and people anywhere in the
world can hold advertisers and us more accountable," Facebook wrote in the
blog post.
The new plan is similar to those the company rolled out in
the United Kingdom and Brazil in 2018. Political ad-buyers in the United States
must provide Facebook with their Social Security information, a copy of a
government-issued ID, and a US address.
