Facebook hands advertisers more granular brand safety tools

What has Facebook changed?

• New controls come as an estimated 1.25bn people visit Facebook Watch each month.

• The social network will provide suitability tools to hand advertisers greater control over where their ads appear.

• This includes the ability to be excluded from specific topics such as news, politics, gaming, and religious content by harnessing machine learning technology.

• A white list of approved publishers will allow brands to select channels that meet their specific suitability criteria, reaching content originating from these providers only.

• In the US, In-Stream Reserve will test content delivery reports with select advertisers over the coming weeks

• This will provide brands with an additional layer of visibility into the video assets carrying their ads, on top of publisher data which they already have access to

Anything else?

• Facebook has flagged collaborations with industry groups like Jicwebs and the Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG) to provide independent audits and certification

• That process has seen the network gain a global TAG certification with Facebook Instagram and Audience Network all listed under the Jicwebs Digital Trading Standards Group

• “Brand safety is a cross-industry challenge that impacts every company in digital advertising...,” said Mike Zaneis, TAG chief executive.

• Facebook has also been working with the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) to align standards and definitions while improving education, tools and systems

• That process has seen the social media giant align with GARM on the definitions of 11 categories including hate speech and acts of aggression

Why now?

• Today's move follows on from a boycott and increased scrutiny over Facebook's approach to responsible media

• This saw more than 1,000 businesses sign up to the Stop Hate for Profit campaign which called for changes to the platform's content moderation policies.