Meta has revamped its “Why am I seeing this ad?” tool on Facebook with more information on the machine learning models that choose the ads users see.
The new tool has launched on Facebook today and will roll out to Instagram in the future.
The new tool on Facebook will include information summarised into topics about how a user’s online activity — both on Facebook and on third-party sites — informs machine learning models to shape and deliver the ads they see.
For example, the tool will tell a user that they’re seeing an ad because they liked a friend’s Facebook page or interacted with a particular website.
The tool will also include new examples and illustrations explaining how Meta’s machine learning models connect disparate content topics together to show users relevant ads.
A navigation change is also new. Users will be able to access the Ad Preferences page through the “Why am I seeing this ad?” tool.
“We worked closely with external privacy experts and policy stakeholders from around the world to get input on what transparency changes they want to see in our ads system,” said Pedro Pavón, Meta’s global director of ads and monetization privacy, in a blog post.
“Being transparent about how we use machine learning is essential because it ensures that people are aware that this technology is a part of our ads system and that they know the types of information it is using. By stepping up our transparency around how our machine learning models work to deliver ads, we aim to help people feel more secure and increase our accountability.”
Users will be able to find the tool by clicking the three-dot menu in the top right-hand corner of any ad on Facebook.
Yesterday, Meta’s VP of Facebook said that it was focusing on using AI to deliver content recommendations and was planning to users play around with generative AI tools to spice up photographs other content on Facebook. He also said that TikTok was chasing Facebook and Instagram.
