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Facebook cracks down on sneaky branded content

Facebook/Supplied

Facebook/Supplied

Facebook will no longer allow non-transparent advertising content to appear on news feeds as it launches its new branded content policy.

Until now, marketers and celebrities could post content without divulging that they had been paid by a third party.

On Friday, the social media company announced its new policy, which will force pages to tag companies that have paid for a post with a new tool.

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But Facebook won’t simply trust that everyone is following the rules, having announced a crackdown on stealthy advertisements.

“Just like all content on Facebook, branded content will go through a review process,” the company said in a statement.

“We will begin ramping up enforcement over the next few weeks to remove non-compliant branded content or disapprove ads for lack of compliance.”

Facebook said the changes reflected the feedback they’d received from users.

The move acknowledges native advertising or branded content as an area of growth in the digital sphere, as well as that users can feel deceived when brands don’t properly disclose their agreements.

From now on, branded content will be visible to readers by the ‘handshake’ symbol that will appear on all posts.

While currently only the user who posts content can see how successful it has been at reaching people, using the new tool, both posters and marketers will be able to monitor the content.

The new policy will also differentiate between straight-up advertising and ‘branded content’, banning any overly-promotional material from being posted.

See below for an example of how branded content will look:

Facebook/Supplied

A Lady Gaga and Intel collaboration. Photo: Facebook/Supplied

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