Political ads on Facebook and Instagram: what Meta and the CNE require

Running ads for a candidate on Facebook and Instagram is not like running ads for a hotel. There are two rulebooks at once: Meta’s, which decides whether the ad runs, and Colombian electoral law, which decides whether the spending is legal.

What Meta requires

Meta classifies as ads about social issues, elections or politics anything that mentions a candidate, a party, an election or a topic of public debate. To publish them:

1. Advertiser authorisation. The person managing the ads verifies their identity with an ID and their location in Colombia. It is done once but can take several days, so do it before you need it.
2. A “Paid for by” disclaimer. Every ad shows who pays for it. It must be the real name of the campaign or the person responsible, not a generic page.
3. The Ad Library. Every ad stays public for seven years, with its approximate spend and reach by age, gender and region. Your rivals can see yours, and you can see theirs.

A political ad published without authorisation is rejected or removed, and the account can be restricted. Mid-campaign, that means days without ads.

anaruizconcejo

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Ana Ruiz · Council candidate🏘️ A neighbourhood that works · Barranquilla📲 Proposals and volunteering on WhatsApp

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What electoral law requires

• The propaganda window. Electoral propaganda is only allowed in the three months before the vote (Law 1475 of 2011). Before that, content can cover work and opinions but cannot ask for the vote.
• Spending caps. The National Electoral Council sets how much each campaign may spend by office and district. Social media ads count toward that cap.
• Income and expense reporting. Everything is reported in the CNE’s Cuentas Claras system, with supporting documents. A digital ad invoice is a campaign expense like any other.

Exact dates come from the National Registry’s electoral calendar, and the CNE publishes its spending cap resolutions every year. Those are what count.

How we organise a campaign’s ads

• An ad account used only for the campaign, with a payment method in the campaign’s name. No personal cards mixed with other expenses.
• A budget per district. Neighbourhoods or municipalities with their own ad sets, to see what works where.
• Ads that lead to WhatsApp. A conversation with a voter in the district is worth more than a thousand views from someone who does not vote there.
• Weekly records for every peso. Invoices and Meta reports organised for the campaign’s accountant, week by week.

Questions we always get

Can we run ads before the propaganda window? Content about work or opinions, yes, always with Meta’s authorisation because it is still political. Asking for the vote, no.

Can a supporter pay for ads on their own? It is a risk: that spending may be attributed to the campaign without being reported. Everything should come from the official account.

How much should we invest? It depends on the cap and the district. We explain it in what it costs to run a campaign’s social media.

We set up the authorisation, the disclaimer and the reports as part of our social media for political campaigns service.