Advertisement

Facebook restricts ads posing as news articles

Facebook on Tuesday unveiled a new policy that would prevent U.S. publishers with political ties from running ads presented as news articles, as the country gears up for the presidential election.

Under the new policy, publishers with any political connections will still be allowed to register as a news page but will not be included in Facebook News among other restrictions.

Facebook said it will also extend its ad authorization policy to cover these publishers, meaning the social media giant will publicly disclose who paid for an ad that has opinion-based content on social issues and elections.

The new policy comes as the world's largest online social network, with 2.7 billion monthly active users, has been attacked for its lax approach to fake news reports and misinformation campaigns, which many believe affected the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.