In November 2023, Meta announced that advertisers running ads about social issues, elections, or politics on Facebook and Instagram must disclose when an ad uses AI or other digital techniques to create or alter content in specified ways. The requirement took effect January 1, 2024 and applies worldwide.
The rule requires disclosure when a photorealistic image or video, or realistic-sounding audio, was created or edited with generative AI tools to depict a real person saying or doing something they did not, to depict a realistic-looking person who does not exist or an event that did not happen, or to alter footage of a real event. Meta then surfaces an “AI” or “AI info” label on the ad, and information about the AI use is recorded in Meta’s public Ad Library. Content altered in ways immaterial to the ad’s claim is exempt. Failure to disclose can result in the ad being rejected and penalties for repeat offenders.
Coming a few weeks after Google’s election-ad policy, Meta’s rule extended AI-disclosure requirements to the largest social advertising network ahead of the 2024 elections, reinforcing disclosure as the dominant industry response to synthetic political media.
For a business reader, it shows how the major ad platforms converged on a labeling-and-library approach: advertisers self-declare AI use, and the platform makes that declaration visible and auditable.