Facebook announced that it is taking preventive steps to “protect the integrity of the upcoming US 2020 elections.”

Ads related to the US 2020 census participation and voting around the November 3, 2020 election are now subject to additional prohibitions. Ads targeting the US with the following content are not allowed:

• Ads that portray voting or census participation as useless/meaningless and/or advise users not to vote or participate in a census.
• Ads that delegitimize any lawful method or process of voting or voting tabulation (including in-person voting on paper or on machines, absentee voting, vote by mail, and lawful collection of ballots) as illegal, inherently fraudulent or corrupt, or will result in a fraudulent or corrupt election administration or outcome.
• Ads that delegitimize an election and/or result as fraudulent or corrupt because the result can’t be determined on the final day of voting and/or before ballots received after the final day of voting are lawfully counted.
• Ads that claim voter fraud (such as voter impersonation, duplicate voting, or non-eligible individuals voting) is widespread and/or alters the outcome of elections and/or results in a fraudulent or corrupt election.
• Ads that claim the election date or the mechanism for electing the President can be changed in ways not permitted by the Constitution or federal law.
• Ads with premature claims of election victory.
• Ads that are inconsistent with health authorities on voting safely.

To better facilitate public scrutiny for ads about social issues, elections or politics in the final week of the campaign, we’re introducing a restriction period for ads about social issues, elections or politics in the US. Advertisers will not be able to create and run new ads about social issues, elections or politics in the United States between October 27, 2020 through November 3, 2020. Changes to budget, bids, and targeting will be allowed during this period. However, any edits related to creative, placement and optimization will not be allowed. We recommend you to routinely check their FB Help Center page for updates and the latest information.

Ads about social issues, elections or politics in the United States must be created and start delivering before October 27. If you’re planning to run existing ads about social issues, elections or politics during this restriction period, you’ll be able to:

• Pause existing ads
• Unpause paused ads as long as they delivered an impression before October 27 and are stored in the Ad Library
• Edit the schedule (e.g. new end date)
• Edit the bid amount
• Edit the budget
• Edit the targeting, e.g. geographic or demographic changes, change the interests, upload a new custom audience and create a lookalike
• Note: Editing the targeting will send the ad back through ad review. Advertisers may wait up to 72 hours for political/issue ads to be reviewed.

If you’re planning to run existing ads about social issues, elections or politics during this period, you will not be able to:

• Edit or upload new video assets
• Edit or upload new image assets
• Edit or provide a new landing page
• Edit or provide a new caption (body text)
• Boost an organic post
• Change the objective for the ad
• Change the Page that the ad is running from
• Run the ad from a new ad account
• Change the conversion tracking (pixel, pixel event)
• Change the optimization
• Change the bid type
• Remove the “Paid for by” disclaimer
• Edit the placement
• Duplicate these ads

If you’re planning to run ads about social issues, elections or politics for the first time:

• You’ll need to get authorized to run ads.
• Your ads must have an impression by October 27. FB recommends advertisers to prepare accordingly as ID verification reviews typically take 48 hours, disclaimer reviews take 24 hours and ad reviews take 72 hours.
• Run messages that will stay relevant through Election Day. For instance, it’s best to reference voting on “Election Day” or “November 3” versus “tomorrow” or “today”.
• They also recommend that you get started with the ad authorization and ad setup process as soon as possible. While we’ll adhere to standard turnaround times as closely as possible, we urge you to get authorized and set up ads early to avoid potential delays.

For more information and best practices, refer to the FB best practices one-sheeter.