New Facebook controls aim to regulate political ads and fight fake news

Moved intended to stall spread of false information and 'prevent future abuse in elections'

Facebook is stepping up its efforts to fight fake news and political misinformation, with new controls intended to ensure authenticity and transparency among advertisers and publishers on the site.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a post shortly after the moves were announced: "These steps by themselves won't stop all people trying to game the system. But they will make it a lot harder for anyone to do what the Russians did during the 2016 election and use fake accounts and pages to run ads." He also threw his company's support behind the Honest Ads Act, a US Senate bill: "Election interference is a problem that's bigger than any one platform ... This will help raise the bar for all political advertising online."