Social media giant Facebook was forced to remove the term “fake news” from its new TV commercial following a review.
The TVC is part of Facebook’s national campaign launched last month to drive awareness of the changes it has made to protect people’s privacy, remove fake accounts from the platform and ensure users have a positive and safe experience.
Speaking to B&T, Free TV Australia CEO Bridget Fair said Facebook submitted the TVC for review by Commercials Advice and was advised that it contained a number of elements that would bring it into the scope of the political matter licence condition and would therefore require a tag.
Fair said it was Facebook’s decision to either tag the ad or to amend it.
“As they did not want to run the advertisement with a tag, we worked with Facebook to find a solution that would allow the advertisement to run without a tag,” she said.
“It is frustrating for us that Facebook’s original ad was able to run on all other media without the requirement for a political tag.
“This is just another example of commercial television broadcasters being subject to outdated rules and regulations that do not apply to other platforms, and which impede our ability to effectively compete in the modern media environment.
Fair said it was time for a comprehensive review of the regulatory imbalance impacting Free TV broadcasters.
“Commercial broadcasters are subject to a number of regulatory obligations that do not apply to other advertising platforms, including a licence condition for all political matter to be tagged,” she said.
“The scope of political matter has been considered by the ACMA to be very broad.”
Facebook’s managing director for Australia and New Zealand, Will Easton, said in a statement to B&T: “We consistently listen to our communities’ feedback and they have told us that that they want to understand what we are doing about recent concerns around social media.
“This campaign is designed to respond to that feedback and show the actions we are taking.
“The advertising market is highly competitive and we recognise the value of multiple channels to reach consumers. We want to run this on TV.”
