Facebook launches library listing Dutch political ads

On Friday Facebook launched its library of political advertisements for the Netherlands and the other European Union member states. In this ad library, users can find advertisements from political parties and on political topics. The library is Facebook's response to pressure from EU policy makers to be more transparent about political advertisements on social media, NU.nl reports.

Users can search the Netherlands Ad Library for political parties like GroenLinks or Forum voor Democratie. Facebook then shows which Facebook pages are linked to the relevant party and which political advertisements those pages posted. Facebook pages that aren't explicitly linked to a political party, but do advertise on political topics, like immigration and Zwarte Piet, also show up in the library.

The search results also give more information about the pages, like when they were created and in which country the administrators are based. Facebook doesn't show library users which specific target groups the Facebook pages are aimed at with their advertisements, or how much the pages paid for their ads. 

Other large online platforms are also opening overviews of political advertisements in the European Union. Twitter launched its library earlier this month. Google will follow in April.