More reassurance for Meta advertisers, with Meta today announcing that it’s been re-accredited by the Media Ratings Council (MRC) for Content-Level Brand Safety, meaning that Meta’s documented processes continue to meet the MRC standards for brand safety and measurement.
The MRC conducts audits of ad systems to ensure measurement processes meet quality and assurance benchmarks, providing third-party checking to give ad partners more confidence in such.
As per the MRC:
“Accreditation indicates that the Measurement Statistics reported for the Service comply with: (1) the Minimum Standards for Media Rating Research, the Enhanced Content Level Context and Brand Safety Guidelines and the Business Partner Qualification requirements of the Invalid Traffic Detection and Filtration Standards Addendum (version 2.0) published by the MRC; the Ad Verification Guidelines published by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB); (2) the procedures described in Meta’s answers to the MRC questionnaire; and (3) the procedures described in procedure manuals and textual materials included in reports of the Service.
So it’s based on Meta’s documentation, not its actual process, which is a relevant note, while there are also a lot of exclusions noted in the official document. But even so, it provides some level of additional checking, ensuring that Meta’s meeting industry standards, as defined by the MRC.
Though there was one particularly interesting note in this latest review:
“Misinformation is excluded from accreditation and remains in process of review as Community Notes applied to this category are being assessed.”
So the MRC isn’t willing to provide assurance on the prevalence of misinformation on Facebook, Instagram and Threads at this stage, due to Meta’s change in approach in enforcing such, as it moves to allow more speech in its apps.
Depending on your perspective, that could be a valid note.
In addition to MRC re-accreditation, Facebook and Instagram have also recently received brand safety re-certification from the Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG) for the sixth consecutive year, while Integral Ad Science has also launched a new contextual category reporting for Meta Platforms, which further expands its measurement reporting across Facebook and Instagram.
As per IAS:
“Total Media Quality (TMQ) for Meta, contextual category reporting provides advertisers with the most accurate and actionable brand safety and suitability measurement. TMQ is powered by IAS’s multimedia technology, providing unmatched insight into video content through frame-by-frame analysis of video images, audio, and text to provide the most accurate measurement at scale.”
So, more assurance for Meta advertisers, with the proviso that misinformation cannot currently be measured due to the shift to Community Notes.
NOTE: MRC’s Facebook and Instagram Feed accreditation applies to English and Spanish Only.
