From February 28 onwards, Facebook users will see a new option in the Facebook feed menu. This new feature, ”Why am I seeing this ad?” aims to bring more transparency to users about how their Facebook data is being used. In addition, Facebook has added a new advertiser request, where advertisers will hav to confirm that the data about the audience that it uploads to Facebook has been acquired legitimately.
For marketers, this will mean having a greater responsibility for the processing of personal data, and they will have to be careful to be sure that the data they use is legitimate if, for example, they are uploading someone’s phone number or e-mail for campaign targeting. This will again help users understand why the advertiser is targeting the ad to them.
The new feature will show:
- Which advertisers use your contact information
- Information about when a contact was uploaded to Facebook
- Who uploaded your contact information
- and that the brands didn’t share your contact details between themselves and other partners (like developers or agencies).
The Why am I seeing this ad? tool helps users find out what caused the brand to get their contact information.
If a user discovers that someone’s data is being misappropriated, Facebook will take action against the data provider. Facebook’s goal is to eliminate agencies that work with illegally obtained contact information.
Facebook launched the new feature to all users at the end of February 2019.
