Meta to start removing expired ads from political ad archive
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Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
Meta is set to remove political ads from its Ad Library for the first time since it launched the feature in 2018.
Why it matters: The ads represent the first digital election ads ever archived online in a comprehensive way.
- For researchers, journalists and political operatives, they also serve as an archive of the messaging and targeting strategies used by both parties in the first major race after President Trump was first elected.
State of play: Meta, then Facebook, introduced its Ad Library on May 24, 2018. At the time, it said archived ads and advertisers would only be stored in the library for seven years.
- A spokesperson confirmed that some ads will begin to disappear this Saturday.
- The Ad Library serves as a public archive for all ads and advertisers around social issues, elections or politics. It shows detailed information about how the ads were purchased, who they target and how long they ran.
Flashback: Facebook launched the library after Congress threatened to pass an "Honest Ads" law in 2017 requiring such transparency efforts.
- The law, championed by the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) with Democratic Sens. Mark Warner (Va.) and Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), came close but never actually passed. But it pushed companies like Meta, Google, Snap and others to create their own online ad archives.
Reality check: The archive helped Facebook deflect criticism of a lack of transparency around its political ads after the tech giant disclosed that Russians surreptitiously bought ads on its platform during the 2016 election.
- Because the vast majority of ads on Facebook and other Meta platforms are bought in an automated fashion, the archive serves as a way for the public to be able to scrutinize candidates' tactics, not Meta's technology.
Zoom out: The impact of the Ad Library has been significant in helping Americans better understand election tactics that campaigns typically don't want voters or the media to see.
- For example, Kamala Harris' campaign ran pro-Israel ads targeted to voters in Pennsylvania on Facebook, while simultaneously running ads about the devastation in Gaza targeted to voters in Michigan.
What to watch: To date, there have not been any new laws written to force tech platforms to disclose which political ads run on their platforms, despite an increasing amount of political advertising moving from local broadcast — where public disclosures are required by law — to digital channels.
- Congress has in the past few years introduced measures that aim to regulate AI-generated content in political ads, but no bill with such requirements has been passed into law.
