Facebook has announced it will not accept political advertisements from outside Nigeria and is set to roll out new rules, ahead of the general election, in a bid to prevent “foreign interference” around the polls, according to the Cable News Network (CNN).
Facebook adverts, said CNN, are an “integral part of the social media campaign for candidates and parties.”
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 United States of America polls.
United Kingdom authorities fined Facebook with a £500,000 ($645,000) last October, saying that it failed to safeguard user data. In India, where general election will be held in April, Facebook said it would begin to archive electoral ads in an online library starting February.
Last week, Facebook announced it would roll out additional ad transparency tools in the EU in May.
“By shining a light on political adverts, news organisations, 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 UK and Brazil, in 2018. Political advert-buyers in the US must provide Facebook with their Social Security information, a copy of a government-issued ID, and a US address.