Political advertisers banned from using Meta’s generative AI tools

by Julia Shapero - 11/07/23 4:46 PM ET

FILE - A Meta sign is displayed at the company's booth at the Game Developers Conference 2023 in San Francisco, March 22, 2023. A group of congressional Democrats reported Wednesday, July 12, that three large tax preparation firms sent "extraordinarily sensitive" information on tens of millions of taxpayers to Facebook parent company Meta over the course of at least two years.(AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File) — FILE – A Meta sign is displayed at the company’s booth at the Game Developers Conference 2023 in San Francisco, March 22, 2023. A group of congressional Democrats reported Wednesday, July 12, that three large tax preparation firms sent “extraordinarily sensitive” information on tens of millions of taxpayers to Facebook parent company Meta over the course of at least two years.(AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

Political advertisers will not be allowed to use Meta’s new generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools, the company said on Monday.

Meta began rolling out its generative AI features for advertisers, which can create multiple backgrounds and versions of ad text and automatically adjust image and video sizing, in early October.

However, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram said in a note on Monday that they cannot be used by advertisers running ads “for Housing, Employment or Credit or Social Issues, Elections, or Politics, or related to Health, Pharmaceuticals or Financial Services.”

“We believe this approach will allow us to better understand potential risks and build the right safeguards for the use of Generative AI in ads that relate to potentially sensitive topics in regulated industries,” Meta said.

The new rule, which was first reported by Reuters, was described by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) on Tuesday as a “step in the right direction.”

“Deceptive AI has the potential to upend our democracy, making voters question whether videos they are seeing of candidates are real or fake,” Klobuchar said in a statement. “This decision by Meta is a step in the right direction, but we can’t rely on voluntary commitments alone.”

The senator, who has been a leading figure on congressional efforts to regulate AI, also vowed to continue pushing for legislation that requires disclosures about AI-manipulated content in campaign ads and bans “deceptive” AI-generated content in elections.

Google previously announced its plans to take action against the use of AI in campaign ads in September, with verified election advertisers now required to disclose when their ads have been digitally altered.