Anyone who manages a Facebook page that has a “large audience,” which is the somewhat nonspecific language Facebook uses in a new blog post today, has some new rules coming down the pipe that they’ll have to follow if they want to keep running their page.
One of those new requirements? You’ve got to prove to Facebook where you live.
“In April, we announced plans to help ensure these connections are authentic and more transparent,” the post explains about the new rules, which are also coming to Instagram. “Today we’re introducing Page publishing authorization starting with people that manage a Page with a large audience in the US. We’re also adding primary country location and Page merge details to the Page Info tab we introduced in June.”
People who manage these pages that have significant followings are going to be asked to complete an authorization process in order to keep posting on their page. A step that no one should be surprised about the origin of, with Facebook’s continued fight against fake news and the like.
That process will ask page admins to secure their account with two-factor authentication and to also confirm where they live by proving their primary country location. They’ll do that via turning on location services on their mobile device.
“If a Page manager requires authorization,” Facebook explains, “they’ll receive a notice at the top of their News Feed to begin the process. This should only take a few minutes to complete. People won’t be able to post on their Page if they don’t complete the process. Enforcement will follow shortly this month.”
Going forward, Facebook also plans to add a section called “People Who Manage This Page.” It will surface the primary country locations that Pages are managed from.
“Our goal is to prevent organizations and individuals from creating accounts that mislead people about who they are or what they’re doing,” the company says. “These updates are part of our continued efforts to increase authenticity and transparency of Pages on our platform.”
Facebook isn’t saying for the moment how big of a following a page must have for these requirements to be triggered. But this is certainly one more step in a race to catch sketchy actors and misuse of the platform, which has also included shutting down pages and zeroing in on misuse ahead of elections, as the company announced in recent weeks.
