Facebook Expands the Availability of Brand Safety Tools It Had Been Testing

Facebook is expanding the availability of several brand safety tools that it had been testing in order to give advertisers more control over where their ads appear within in-stream placements. The social network said in a blog post Tuesday, “We have zero tolerance for harmful content on our platforms, we but recognize that this doesn’t mean zero occurrence … Our community standards apply to all people, brands and content on Facebook, and the balance of these policies and additional controls contributes to a quality ecosystem for people, publishers and advertisers.” The new tools can be accessed via the Brand Safety Controls interface in Business Manager, where a redesigned overview page shows all of a business’ ad accounts and the status of their brand safety controls. [kickout id="1"] A new controls page also makes it easier to apply brand safety settings at the account level, and this is where existing tools such as block lists and publisher lists can be managed. The availability of four tools was expanded Tuesday. Publisher whitelists for Facebook Audience Network enable advertisers to designate which third-party publisher applications to run ads on. Content whitelists give advertisers working with Integral Ad Science, OpenSlate and Zefr access to video-level whitelisting so that they can dynamically review and customize suitable videos for in-stream campaigns on Facebook. Delivery reports give advertisers access to impression data at the publisher and content levels, providing greater transparency into which individual pieces of content their ads were embedded in. Livestream exclusions enable advertisers to opt out of the test of in-stream ads in livestreams from vetted partners. Facebook also highlighted its work with industry partners on brand safety, including its participation in the World Federation of Advertisers’ Global Alliance for Responsible Media to align on brand safety standards and definitions, scaling education, common tools and systems and independent oversight for the industry, as well as holding sessions with industry bodies to provide further insight into how its teams work to review content and enforce its community standards. The social network said in its blog post, “We recognize our responsibility to provide a safe environment for everyone using our platforms. And while we know there is still more to be done, we won’t stop helping people and businesses use our platforms safely and successfully.” IAS CEO Lisa Utzschneider said, "It's critical that marketers reach their target audiences with maximum efficiency. IAS is proud to work closely with Facebook to deliver upon this need. With trusted third-party partners like IAS, advertisers can rest easy knowing that their Facebook media investments are both safe and optimized.” OpenSlate CEO Mike Henry added, “Facebook’s new content whitelists provide clients greater control over where they choose to place their advertising. OpenSlate’s integration allows clients to apply our industry-leading ratings to customize environments that meet their standards for content quality, suitability and subject matter.” And Zefr co-Founder and co-CEO Rich Raddon said, "As brands shift online, they are demanding more control of their content environments, without sacrificing reach. We are thrilled that brands can now access Zefr's content whitelists for Facebook in-stream video, leveraging our human-trained machine learning approach for more suitable and precise video campaigns."