Facebook users will need to give the last four digits of their Social Security number if they want to buy political ads from the social media platform and provide government-issued identification, according to CNN.
The move is part of new rules issued by Facebook after it was showered with criticism after a Russian government-tied group spent thousands on Facebook ads in connection with the 2016 presidential election, the broadcaster said.
Facebook told CNN that qualifying ads will include a "paid for by" tag and will be saved in a political ad archive, but will not have a "Political Ad" tag as previously announced.
"You'll want to have the following materials and information available to confirm your identity: a U.S. driver's license or US passport, a U.S.-based residential mailing address, the last four digits of your social security number," Facebook posted on its website as requirements for political ads.
"The only reason we collect this information is to confirm your identity. We use trusted service providers to do this. Your information won't be shared on your profile, in your ads or with other administration on your page or ad accounts," Facebook continued.
Facebook announced earlier that the new authorization process will be used for advertisers running so-called "top-level issues" ads, which include political ads.
The current Facebook "top-level issues" included abortion, budget, civil rights, crime, economy, education, energy, environment, foreign policy, government reform, guns, health, immigration, infrastructure, military, poverty, Social Security, taxes, terrorism, and values.
CNN wrote that some news organizations are concern that articles it promotes through Facebook ads may be included in the rules. The News Media Alliance, a trade group representing Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and other publishers asked for an exemption from the rules, the broadcaster noted.
"Newsgathering and reporting about politics is not the same thing as advocacy or politics," the letter to Facebook said, according to CNN.
Campbell Brown, Facebook's head of news partnerships, said in a statement: "We recognize the news content about politics is different and we are working with publishers to develop the right approach."
Facebook has been slammed for promoting what was called "fake news" during the heated presidential campaign. Zuckerberg, who testified in front of Congress earlier this year, had denied Facebook played any role in influencing the presidential election.
The social media platform and Google started to tweak advertising policies to limited the exposure of fake news websites.
Facebook has also been criticized for a scandal involving Cambridge Analytica, the British firm that was hired by then-presidential candidate Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential election. Facebook was accused of unwittingly sharing information of more than 87 million of its users with the campaign.
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