Meta Platforms Inc. will require organizations to disclose if they use Facebook and Instagram to distribute ads that were created with the help of artificial intelligence.

Meta announced the new policy in a blog post published today. The disclosure requirement will apply to social issue, election and political ads that contain photorealistic images, videos or realistic sounding audio. According to Meta, the rule will go into effect next year.

Organizations will have to add disclosures if their ads depict a real person as saying or doing something they did not say or do. Content showing a “realistic-looking person that does not exist” will also require a disclosure. The same applies to ads that depict a realistic-looking event that did not happen or contain inauthentic footage of a real event.

Not all AI-generated content will be subject to Meta’s new rule. Organizations won’t have to divulge if their ads contain content “digitally created or altered in ways that are inconsequential or immaterial to the claim, assertion, or issue raised in the ad.” Using an AI tool to resize an image, for example, wouldn’t necessarily require marketers to add a disclosure. 

“Meta will add information on the ad when an advertiser discloses in the advertising flow that the content is digitally created or altered,” the company stated. “If we determine that an advertiser doesn’t disclose as required, we will reject the ad and repeated failure to disclose may result in penalties against the advertiser.”

Meta’s announcement of the new rule comes days after it introduced even more stringent terms of use for its AI advertising tools. Under those terms, the tools may not be used to create ads relating to housing, employment, credit, social issues, elections, politics, health pharmaceuticals and financial services. 

Earlier this year, Meta rolled out a set of major upgrades to its AI advertising toolkit. The company added new features that allow marketers to generate copy and background images with text prompts. Meta also updated Advantage+, an AI tool introduced last year that can mix and match a brand’s creative assets into new ads.

Google LLC, Meta’s top competitor in the online advertising market, has likewise taken steps to address the risks posed by AI-generated content. In September, the company introduced a rule requiring political advertisers to disclose if they use synthetic content that inauthentically depicts people or events. Google’s policy specifies that disclosures must be prominently displayed to users. 

“With Meta joining Google in requiring political ads to disclose the use of AI, we are on track to establish a more trustworthy and transparent media landscape,” said Eduardo Azanza, chief executive of user authentication provider Veridas Digital Authentication Solutions SL. 

Image: Meta