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On Tuesday, Meta AI disclosed additional information regarding its advertising policies for the upcoming election cycle worldwide, including the utilization of artificial intelligence in the ad-creation process.
Meta’s president of global affairs, Nick Clegg, stated that in certain cases, advertisers worldwide will be required to reveal whether they have employed AI or related digital editing techniques to produce or modify a political or social issue ad.
Additionally, during the last week of the U.S. elections, the social networking behemoth will prohibit new political, electoral, and social issue ads.
In a blog post, Meta’s President of Global Affairs, Nick Clegg, outlined the new advertising policies, stating that they are in line with the social media giant’s approach to advertising rules during past election periods.
Meta AI’s Ad Transparency: AI in Political Ads
The forthcoming election season brings about a notable change, as advertisers are now employing AI technologies to produce computer-generated visuals and text. Building upon a prior declaration made by Meta AI in early November, Clegg stated that commencing from the following year, Meta AI will mandate advertisers to reveal if they have utilized AI or similar digital editing methods “to fabricate or modify a political or social issue advertisement in specific instances.”
Clegg stated that this rule is applicable in cases where the advertisement includes a digitally manipulated or modified photorealistic image video, or audio that sounds realistic, portraying a real individual as saying or doing something they never actually said or did. Furthermore, it also applies if the advertisement portrays a person who appears realistic but does not exist, or a realistic event that never took place.
Additionally, if the advertisement alters footage of a genuine event or depicts a realistic event that supposedly happened but is not an authentic image, video, or audio recording of the event, this rule is also applicable.
Meta AI’s Misinformation Woes: Handling Deceptive Content
Meta AI has faced severe criticism in the past, particularly during the 2016 U.S. presidential elections, for its failure to address and minimize the dissemination of false information across its various platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram. Despite this, in 2019, Meta AI decided to keep a manipulated video of Nancy Pelosi, where she appeared to be speaking incoherently due to intoxication, on its site. It is important to note that this video was not an advertisement.
Facebook has made the decision to retain a modified video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on its platform, which distorts her speech to appear sluggish and unclear. Various individuals, including President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, have utilized this video to cast doubt on Pelosi’s abilities and mental condition.
The emergence of AI as a tool to enhance the production of deceptive advertisements poses a fresh challenge for the social media behemoth, which downsized a significant portion of its trust and safety workforce as a cost-saving measure in the current year.
Meta AI’s Fact-Checking Breakthrough Amid Credibility Concerns
By the close of 2022, the engineers working on the Meta AI misinformation prevention team were prepared to unveil a crucial fact-checking tool that had taken six months to develop. In light of a series of crises that had severely impacted the credibility of Facebook and Instagram, the company was in dire need of any assistance it could get to restore its reputation. These crises also provided regulators with more reasons to scrutinize the platforms.
The trustworthiness of questionable articles on Facebook could be verified by allowing third-party fact-checkers such as The Associated Press and Reuters, along with credible experts, to add comments at the beginning of the articles.
In line with previous years, Meta AI will implement a restriction on new political, electoral, and social issue advertisements during the last week of the U.S. elections. This measure will be lifted on the day following the election.
