Facebook starts showing all ads a Page is running

Facebook is continuing its transparency efforts around Pages and ads, now including an “Info & Ads” section on Pages that list all ads the Page has run across Facebook, Instagram and Messenger, as well as Facebook’s partner networks.

This means anyone can go to a Page and see its full scope of advertising, regardless of whether the ads were originally targeting the user or not. There will also be an option on the ad to flag if it’s suspicious by clicking on the “Report Ad” button.

In addition to showing all the ads a Page has run, Facebook is sharing detailed information on the Page, including its creation date and if there have been any recent name changes to the Page.

“The vast majority of ads on Facebook are run by legitimate organizations — whether it’s a small business looking for new customers, an advocacy group raising money for their cause, or a politician running for office. But we’ve seen that bad actors can misuse our products, too,” writes Facebook’s director of product management, Rob Leathern, and its product marketing director, Emma Rodgers, the company’s news blog.

This update was first announced in October of last year, along with the recent changes to Facebook’s political ad policies. Facebook shared the following video to show how the new information will be displayed on a Page:

Facebook says it has plans to add more Page information soon. It is also rolling out the same political ad labels and its searchable archive of ads — first launched in the US last month — in Brazil, ahead of the country’s upcoming October elections.

Facebook and Twitter both have made sweeping changes to their ad policies recently, aiming to protect their platforms against the malicious behavior that happened on the apps during the 2016 presidential elections. Just today, Twitter launched its Ad Transparency Center, a searchable database of ads much like Facebook’s ad archive, making it possible for anyone to see ads that have run on the app during the last seven days.

About The Author

Amy Gesenhues

Amy Gesenhues is Third Door Media’s General Assignment Reporter, covering the latest news and updates for Marketing Land and Search Engine Land. From 2009 to 2012, she was an award-winning syndicated columnist for a number of daily newspapers from New York to Texas. With more than ten years of marketing management experience, she has contributed to a variety of traditional and online publications, including MarketingProfs.com, SoftwareCEO.com, and Sales and Marketing Management Magazine. Read more of Amy’s articles.