Meta has announced plans to make information about how political and “social issue” ads are targeted publicly available.
Facebook had previously experimented with making some data available to researchers via FORT in 2021. The information was however only available for political ads three months before the 2020 election.
The new development means researchers, especially those who are part of the company’s Facebook Open Research and Transparency (FORT) program, will now have access to the most detailed information.
The update, expected in July, will allow anyone to see more general information about how certain Facebook pages target their ads.
Meta makes the data available to the public through its Ad Library. Despite the new development, Meta refuses to make detailed targeting data available. The company cited privacy concerns for its action.
For some researchers, making more detailed targeting information about FORT may still not go far. For them, researchers still need to be vetted and approved by Facebook in order to access FORT.