Facebook implements new advertising rule to combat fake news for 2019 elections in Nigeria

Zuckerberg takes a selfie with President Buhari and VP Osinbajo

Facebook implements new advertising rule to combat fake news for 2019 elections in Nigeria

Ahead of the 2019 general elections in Nigeria and other countries across the world, social media giant, Facebook has announced an extension of some of its political advertising rules and tools to curb the spread of fake news and foreign interference.

Facebook has, in recent times, been criticised for being pivotal to the spread of fake news and foreign interference with its lax policies that allows politicians buy ads that can widen the audience for them to push their, sometimes, sinister agendas.

The spread of fake news and foreign interference in elections caused a global outrage especially with the electoral triumph of Donald Trump as United States president in 2016.

With elections set to commence in Nigeria, India, Ukraine and the European Union, the media company is implementing several initiatives to increase oversight of political ads.

Nigerians are set to elect new leaders next month

"In the coming months, we'll be rolling out additional protections ahead of upcoming elections.

"Nigeria and Ukraine: We'll temporarily expand enforcement and not accept foreign electoral ads around their elections, starting with Nigeria on January 16," an official statement read.

The media company also disclosed that it'll launch an ad library and enforce authorisations ahead of the Indian general elections, and also roll out ad transparency tools before the EU elections in May.

"By shining a light on political ads, news organizations, regulators, watchdog groups and people anywhere in the world can hold advertisers and us more accountable," the company said.

2019 general elections

The 2019 general elections will kick off with the Presidential and National Assembly elections on February 16 while Governorship and State Assembly elections will take place on March 2.

A total of 84,004,084 are registered to vote in the elections.