The Media Rating Council has given accreditation to Metaโs policies and approaches to ad placement across its ad products.
โIn August 2020, we committed to undertaking and releasing independent, third-party assessments of our brand safety and suitability solutions. This accreditation from the MRC comes after an extensive audit conducted by independent CPA auditors engaged by MRC that reviewed the brand safety policies, controls and processes we have in place to ensure a safe and suitable advertising environment on our platforms.โ
The MRC brand safety accreditation process includes five key elements:
- Site Context
- Geo-Targeting
- Ad Placement
- Competitive Separation
- Fraud Detection
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The MCR audit ensures that platforms adhere to these standards and, apparently, Meta does. MCR has pointed out Metaโs Partner Monetization Policies, Content Monetization Policies and brand safety applied to Facebook In-Stream Video and Instant Articles in desktop, mobile web and mobile in-app.ย
โMeta is a leader when it comes to safety and integrity in the tech space, and our goal is to continue to raise the bar for the industry by creating safe environments. We will continue our commitment to transparency so people can hold us accountable and businesses can feel confident about partnering with us.โ
The problem is, these arenโt the things Meta is most notable for doing wrong. Metaโs ad system has other issues in ad delivery at present, with Appleโs ATT data privacy prompts interrupting its ability to deliver ads to target audiences. Itโs important to note that the MCRโs assessment looked at Metaโs machine learning elements (AI), which are becoming a bigger part of its ad targeting process.
Will the MRC accreditation provide additional assurance for ad partners that their ads are indeed reaching the audience that Facebookโs Business Manager platform? Yes. Will that assurance be built on a solid foundation in actual practice? You can decide based on your own user experience.ย ย
This hasnโt been a good year for Meta’s ads business. Perhaps this MCR accreditation will help bring brighter days for the platform in 2023. Meanwhile, Meta continues to add more controls for placement and brand security so be extra cautious if you plan to utilize ads on the platform.
