Facebook Updates “Why Am I Seeing This Ad?”

Facebook recently updated its decade-old “Why am I seeing this ad?” feature to include information on how the company uses machine learning models to display Facebook ads to users, increasing ad transparency.

“We are committed to using machine learning models responsibly,” Pedro Pavón shared 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.”

The global director of Ads and Monetization Privacy also mentioned that Meta worked with external privacy experts and policy stakeholders to provide greater ad transparency and more information regarding how its machine learning models determine which ads to show users. “We aim to help people feel more secure and increase our accountability.”

Going forward, the tool will provide information related to how a user’s activity on and off Facebook may inform its machine learning models to display specific ads. “Liking a post on a friend’s Facebook page” or frequently visiting a website could be examples of activities that determine which ads the user will see.

Users can find the “Why am I seeing this ad?” feature by clicking on the three-dot menu in the upper-right-hand corner of any Facebook ad. The update also enables users to access their Ads Preferences directly from the “Why am I seeing this ad?” tool.

Meta announced the updated version of “Why am I seeing this ad?” tool is currently only available on Facebook, but subsidiary Instagram is next in line. TikTok is another social media platform that has made efforts to increase ad transparency. Its “Why this video” tool tells users why they see the videos featured on their feeds, which includes factors such as location and account interactions.