Facebook, Instagram to reveal more on how ads target users

WASHINGTON (AP) — Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, said it will start publicly providing more details about how advertisers target people with political ads.

FILE – The mobile phone apps for, from left, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp are shown on a device in New York. The company that owns Facebook and Instagram said Monday, May 23, 2022, it will begin revealing more details about how advertisers target people with certain political ads, just months before the U.S. Midterm elections. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

It is acting just months before the U.S. midterm elections and years after criticism that the social media platforms withhold too much information around how campaigns, special interest groups and politicians target small pockets of people with sometimes polarizing and misleading messages.

Meta will start showing the demographics and interests of audiences advertisers select to target with political ads on platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

The company will also share how much advertisers spent in an effort to target people in certain states.

You can read more here.

You can find more national news here.