Facebook has been working hard for quite some time to make advertising on Facebook more transparent, especially during the election season, to avoid any kind of abuse. The latest innovation to join the list of changes made in their advertisement policies by the social networking giant is the Facebook Ad Archive API which shall help researchers and journalists to analyze Facebook ads related to politics or issues of national importance more easily.
In the initial stages, Facebook shall take into account the opinions of a core group of researchers, publishers, and academics in the US to better understand what’s most useful in improving the Facebook tool to combat abuse before they open it up to a wider audience. Input from this group shall also be used to create an Archive report, which will be made available this September onwards.
The API offers ad creative, start and end date, and performance data, including total spend and impressions for ads. It also shows demographics of people reached, including age, gender and location. – Facebook’s official announcement outlines the API’s function
Facebook acknowledges that they have been encouraged in their endeavors by trends and insights unearthed by watchdog groups, publishers, and academics since the archive launched in May. And the deeper analysis is expected to increase accountability for both Facebook and its advertisers.
To access the Facebook Ad Archive API, interested candidates need to submit this form and Facebook shall respond to it after the initial test.
