Facebook releases U.S. political ads archive on its platform

Facebook Inc, has recently released a complete archive of its U.S. political ads that appear on the platform during the 2016 U.S. presidential elections. The archive is searchable and provides the details of the ads including who paid for the ads.

The decision by Facebook came after much of a cry last year about the alleged involvement of Russian sponsored ads in order to influence 2016 elections in the United States. It was suspected that Russia funded those ads to influence or hijack the elections 2016.

Facebook has launched the archive in the U.S. hoping that the new archive tool will be rolled out to other countries later. Facebook made a promise before the US congressional hearing that it would create a cache and make the platform more transparent in order to let people know about its involvement in political advertising.

The archive of ads start from May, Rob Leathern, Facebook’s director of ad product management said in a blog post that all the ads related to US elections and political issues on Facebook and Instagram must be labeled with the payer.

When the user will click the label it will show further information including campaign budget, people reached, demographics etc. said Leathern.

Leathern in a statement said, “The increased transparency will promote more accountability and responsibility over time not only for Facebook but also for advertisers.”

After Facebook’s decision to launch the archive, Twitter and Google are also planning to build such searchable databases. Political figures, activists, and other analysts have welcomed Facebook’s move over the increased transparency.