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Facebook to police bad businesses by banning their ads if they lie to customers

Last updated: 02:06 13 Jun 2018 AEST, First published: 01:44 13 Jun 2018 AEST

A man wearing glasses with the Facebook logo
Facebook's new Ads Activity page lets users quickly leave feedback on ads

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) has come up with a new way to keep businesses on their toes.

The social network will allow unhappy customers to post a complaint about businesses they’ve had a problem with if they buy something after clicking on one of their ads. If the complaints snowball, it could lead to Facebook banning the company from running ads.

The new ad policy rolled out globally Tuesday to combat bad shopping experiences.

READ: Facebook exposed millions of private posts to public view, say multiple reports

Facebook will send notifications to users to ask about their shopping experience if it detects that they’ve purchased something after clicking on an ad. They will be able to find those companies and leave feedback on the Ads Activity page, Facebook announced in a blog post.

"Most businesses who receive this feedback do want to improve and do take steps to improve the customer experience and setting better customer expectations up front," Sarah Epps, product marketing director at Facebook, told Business Insider.

Some, however, are just looking to intentionally mislead potential customers.

"We have no tolerance," Epps said. "We put people first, and we do what we need to do to enforce against bad actors."

READ: Facebook admits user data was shared with Chinese smartphone maker Huawei

The social media giant’s goal is to make a place where people can trust the online-shopping ads and the businesses that are advertising.

"When people have these bad experiences, it is bad for trust with all businesses on the platform, and it's bad for Facebook," Epps said. "The goal is to provide more relevant and trustworthy experiences for people interacting with businesses on Facebook."

Facebook is laser-focused on a few problem areas related to shipping times, product quality, and customer service. If a business rectifies the issues once it receives complaints, it can stay in good standing. If not, the ads will suffer until, at a certain point, Facebook will refuse to show them to users at all.

Facebook shares rose slightly to US$192.55 Tuesday afternoon.

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