Meta completes MRC audit of its brand safety policies

Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, announced it completed Media Rating Council accreditation in a process that tested its brand safety standards for advertisers.

On Tuesday, Meta said that it completed the audit with MRC, which is an independent measurement group that verifies media companies and platforms adhere to ad standards. In 2020, Meta committed to undergoing stress tests of its brand safety policies by independent third parties. And last year, Meta said it completed the groundwork that would enable MRC to verify that its ad systems performed as promised.

“During the audit, we provided data and evidence so the auditors could test our systems and conduct their assessment thoroughly,” Samantha Stetson, Meta’s VP of Client Council and industry trade relations, said in an announcement on Tuesday. “Through the audit, we demonstrated to the MRC that our processes and systems meet its rigorous requirements.”

Meta started its work with MRC following a brand backlash in July 2020, during which marketers boycotted the platform over concerns about hate speech and misinformation. More than 1,000 brands supported the movement, which was dubbed “Stop Hate For Profit.” The movement was motivated by civil rights protests in the wake of the killing of George Floyd and heightened political tensions in the U.S. Brands wanted more assurances that digital media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, had proper rules in place to punish bad actors and controls that could prevent brands from running near objectionable content.

In this latest step, Meta worked with MRC to audit monetization policies, which cover ads that run inside videos and other content, in programs where Meta shares ad revenue with partners. Brands wanted better guarantees that their ad dollars did not support any untoward content. MRC also audited Meta’s brand safety controls that advertisers use to avoid topics that go against their brand safety preferences.

In the past week, the brand safety debate has become even more pressing in digital advertising, as marketers are now watching Twitter more closely after Elon Musk bought the platform. Advertisers have been worried that Musk could loosen moderation policies. Also, this week, there is a brand safety summit in New York, featuring many of the major stakeholders in advertising and digital media.

George W. Ivie, MRC executive director and CEO, said that Meta met a “high bar” to garner the accreditation. The group will work with Meta on further analysis of the platform and its systems, Ivie said in the announcement. “We look forward to working with Meta as they expand the scope of their brand safety and suitability offerings to be included in future MRC audits,” Ivie said.

There are more brand safety measures that Meta has been promising to advertisers, including controls within social media feeds, which is a harder challenge to manage than in-stream video and other categories. Meta started testing new in-feed brand controls this quarter and has said it would offer that program more widely next year.