Meta has boosted its brand safety efforts, introducing third-party content block lists through DoubleVerify and Zefr, in addition to IAS, on Facebook and Instagram Feed and Reels.
Following initial testing with IAS, Meta started working with all its existing brand safety and suitability partners to create a solution across all its platforms.
Advertisers will work directly with IAS, DoubleVerify, Zefr and Adloox to determine which specific categories they may want to block.
These decisions happen directly between businesses and their chosen brand safety provider. Meta said that businesses should ultimately decide what their own suitability preferences are—not it.
Advertisers on Meta are free to create blocklists for any category, so long as they adhere to the Meta’s Discriminatory Practices policy and that all reporting remains consistent with standards previously set. This solution supports 34 languages, ensuring coverage and scalability for global brands.
Controls on user comments are currently available to a limited number of businesses, and Meta said it will continue to test and iterate on this functionality and its availability.
It has also expanded controls over which profiles business’ ads can appear on from Instagram to Facebook.
“Ensuring brand safety and suitability for our advertisers continues to be a priority for Meta and for years we’ve invested in this area with a robust range of tools,” said Will Easton, Meta’s ANZ MD.
“Third-party content block lists is the latest tool to give advertisers even more control over their brand suitability across Facebook and Instagram Feed and Reels. We will continue to uphold the industry standards around brand safety and suitability and invest in new tools to meet the needs of Australian advertisers.”
The news follows Meta’s decision earlier this year to can its third-party fact-checking operation in the US and replace it with an X (formerly Twitter) like community notes feature that it hoped would “dramatically reduce the amount of censorship” on its platforms.
It also said that it would be relaxing the rules around speech on its platforms. In a call with advertisers at the end of last month, Monika Bickert, Meta’s VP of content policy said it wanted to remove content that contributed to increased safety risks, but “allow people to talk about the news and the world around them and not be overly restrictive” according to the Wall Street Journal.
The moves have attracted widespread criticism. Vanessa Lyons, CEO of ThinkNewsBrands, previously told B&T that the changes could lead to a “torrent” of misinformation.
“For advertisers, social media will become an even less secure place for brands with even lower trust levels than it had previously,” she said.
“Brand suitability is now more important than ever, and marketing and media communities must begin to divert advertising spend to credible media environments. In doing so they can distance themselves from the rising tide of harmful content while driving greater engagement and improving ROI in their campaigns.”
Regardless, Nicola Mendelsohn, head of Meta’s global business group, said that advertisers were “very reassured by Meta’s ongoing commitment to brand safety, brand suitability.”
