As Kenya General election approaches which has been scheduled to hold on 9th of August, 2022. The social media giant Meta has offered tools and resources that will provide more information on political advertising across its various platforms ahead of the general elections.
According to META blog post, it says “we take a look at best practices to help you launch your campaign, reach and engage voters and get out the vote leading up to election day on 9th August 2022.”
What does the META tools and resources do?
It is intended that the tools and resources increase transparency in political advertising by allowing people to understand who is behind the political advertisements they see on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, while also providing political advertisers with critical resources to reach and engage their supporters and potential voters throughout the election period.
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“Advertisers who want to run ads about social issues, elections or politics must have their ad run by a person who has confirmed their identity and is authorized as being located in Kenya. They also must place a “Paid for by” disclaimer on their ad, which helps provide more transparency for people who see the ad.”
What Advertisers should know About Meta Plans
Meta has stated that it will verify advertisers who wish to run political advertisements in Kenya, and that they will be required to provide proof that they are residents of Kenya.
Additionally, the company will conduct additional checks to ensure that advertisers are adhering to the company’s policies, and two-factor authentication must be enabled. All political advertisements in Kenya during the election period will be labeled with the phrase “Paid for by” so that the public is aware of who is funding the advertisements.
Furthermore, users will have greater control over the types of advertisements that appear in their news feeds. It is possible for them to opt-out of seeing election-related advertisements if they so desire, and if they do so, they will no longer see advertisements that contain the disclaimer “Paid for by.”
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Meta will also post all of Kenya’s political advertisements on their Ads Library so that everyone can see what ads are running, what information about the elections is available, and how much money has been spent on political advertisements. They will be kept in the library for a period of seven years.
Mercy Ndegw, Meta Public Policy Director East and Horn of Africa, affirmed “Meta has continued to invest in technology towards election integrity. We believe political discussion and debate should be transparent to every voter, which is why over the past few years we’ve introduced a number of tools that provide more information about political ads on Facebook and Instagram,”
