Facebook to vet UK political ads for May 2019 local elections

Facebook's chief technology officer is to promise MPs that the social network will act to make political advertising far more transparent for UK users.

Mike Schroepfer will say that his firm will be ready to authorise ads in time for England and Northern Ireland's May 2019 local elections.

He will make the pledge while giving evidence to a parliament committee.

Facebook had previously committed itself to similar action in the US later this year.

Mr Schroepfer is being questioned as part of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee's inquiry into fake news.

But the politicians also want to know more about the leak of Facebook data to the political consultancy Cambridge Analytica.

The committee had wanted to hear from Facebook's founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg.

However, he opted to send other executives to answer questions from politicians outside the US, having given two days of testimony in Washington earlier this month.

SOURCE: BBC NEWS
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