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Meta has announced the expansion of its tools and policies to provide unprecedented transparency and control on electoral and political ads to more countries around the world, including Lebanon, in which elections will take place  on May 15, 2022.

Effective March 22, Meta launched enforcement on ads about elections or politics in Lebanon. To protect elections and help prevent interference, all advertisers must be authorized and located in that country:

• Anyone running ads about political figures, political parties, the election or “Get out the vote” campaigns must go through the ad authorization process by verifying their identity with a government-issued photo ID and must be located in Lebanon.
• Advertisers are required to  provide more information about the person or organization responsible for the ad by placing “Paid for by” disclaimers on these ads. This includes a mail-deliverable local address, verifiable local phone number, business email, and a business website with a domain that matches the email, all of which is included in the public Ad Library for seven years.
• Lebanese diaspora communities and organizations must have their ad run by a representative who possesses the credentials necessary to complete the authorizations process and will be able to run political ads to people in Lebanon  in which they completed the process.

While political ads play an important role in every election, people have told Meta they want the option to see fewer of these on their Facebook and Instagram feeds.

Earlier this year, Meta announced a new feature that allows people to have more control over the ads they see on Facebook. This feature gives people a choice to see fewer electoral and political ads with “Paid for by” disclaimers in Lebanon.

Commenting on the solution, Azzam Alameddin, Public Policy Director, MENAT at Meta, said: “We believe that more transparency leads to increased accountability and responsibility for both Meta and advertisers. Our work to help protect elections is never done, but changes like these continue to move us in the right direction. We’ll continue these efforts to make Facebook a safe community, protect the integrity of elections, and responsibly help ensure authentic connections and conversations on Facebook.”