Meta to start requiring disclosures for AI-generated political ads

Meta Platforms announced on Wednesday that starting in 2024, advertisers will be required to reveal the use of artificial intelligence (AI) or other digital techniques to modify or generate political, social, or election-related ads on Facebook and Instagram.

Advertisers will be obligated to provide these disclosures when their advertisements fall into specific categories and involve “photorealistic images, videos, or realistic-sounding audio.”

“In the New Year, advertisers who run ads about social issues, elections & politics with Meta will have to disclose if image or sound has been created or altered digitally, including with AI, to show real people doing or saying things they haven’t done or said,” said Nick Clegg, Meta president of global affairs.”

In a blog post, Meta, the world’s second-largest digital advertising platform, stated that it would mandate advertisers to reveal if their modified or created ads depict real individuals as engaging in actions or making statements they did not, or if they fabricate the appearance of a non-existent real-looking person.

Furthermore, the company will require advertisers to disclose when their ads portray events that never occurred, manipulate footage from real events, or depict genuine events without using the authentic image, video, or audio recording of the actual event.

According to a blog post from Meta, content edits that are deemed “inconsequential or immaterial to the claim, assertion, or issue presented in the ad,” such as cropping or color correction, are not required to be disclosed.

These policy updates, which build upon Meta’s prior announcement regarding the prohibition of political advertisers from using generative AI ad tools, come following the company’s recent initiative to enhance advertisers’ access to AI-driven advertising tools capable of instantly generating backgrounds, making image adjustments, and generating variations of ad copy in response to simple text prompts.

In a recent development, European Union officials have introduced fresh regulations designed to enhance transparency standards for Big Tech firms concerning political advertising on their platforms.