Tech

Facebook to launch ad spend trackers for U.S. Senate and House races

Key Points
  • Facebook will now allow the public to track exactly how much U.S. senatorial and congressional candidates are spending on political ads on the company's social networks. 
  • Additionally, Facebook is adding custom trackers that will allow the public to compare the ad spend of any advertisers that are running political ads with other advertisers of this type. 
Facebook Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies at a House Financial Services Committee hearing in Washington, October 23, 2019.
Erin Scott | Reuters

Facebook on Wednesday announced that it will now allow the public to track exactly how much U.S. senatorial and congressional candidates are spending on political ads on the company's social networks. 

The company will add spending trackers to every U.S. Senate and House race through the Facebook Ad Library, Sarah Schiff, Facebook's business integrity product manager, said in a call with reporters on Wednesday.

Already, the Facebook Ad Library provides a spend tracker for presidential candidates. The Facebook Ad Library is now used by 2 million people per month, Schiff said. Additionally, Facebook is adding custom trackers that will allow the public to compare the ad spend of any advertisers that are running political ads with other advertisers of this type. 

These new political ad trackers come one day after the company announced that it will now let users opt out of seeing political ads. This new feature is rolling out to some U.S. users on Wednesday and will become available to all U.S. users in the coming weeks. 

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