Meta Joins Google in Labeling AI-Generated Ads

Meta has started automatically labeling ads on Facebook and Instagram that were created or edited using generative artificial intelligence. The move is a response to growing regulatory pressure and runs parallel to changes Google announced for its own advertising services just days earlier.

The new "AI Info" label will appear in the menu under the three-dot icon on every ad, alongside existing information about who paid for it and who it targets. Selecting "About this ad" is enough to check whether a given image, video or audio recording was created or modified by generative AI.

How the Detection Works

The mechanism relies on C2PA, an industry-wide standard for marking the provenance of digital content. This lets Meta detect AI use not only in its own generative tools but also in material produced with third-party apps, as long as those apps attach the right metadata to the files. Advertisers are notified about the planned label while building a campaign, before it even goes live.

Alongside this, Meta is also changing the wording used on ads, replacing the existing "Sponsored" label with the more direct "Ad", though this change does not yet cover all markets.

Where the Rules Are Strictest

Meta is rolling out heightened transparency requirements in the regions with the most developed advertising and AI regulations: the European Union, California and New York, India, and Taiwan. Taiwan gets the strictest treatment: Meta will automatically label photorealistic images and videos generated by AI in its own tools, without waiting for an advertiser's declaration. In the same regions, advertisers can also voluntarily disclose AI use even when the system doesn't catch it automatically, and for political and social issue ads, disclosing the use of photorealistic AI content is mandatory.

A Parallel Move to Google

Meta's decision coincides with a similar step by Google, which days earlier added a "How this ad was created" section to its My Ad Center panel, available in Search, YouTube and Discover. Google warned that attempts to hide generative AI use, or publishing material disguised as authentic photos, would result in immediate campaign blocks and advertising account suspensions.

The fact that the two biggest players in digital advertising are rolling out near-identical mechanisms almost simultaneously suggests they're reacting to the same pressure: a growing volume of ads featuring photorealistic, AI-generated depictions of products and people that users find increasingly hard to distinguish from real photos and footage.

What It Means for Advertisers in Poland

For companies advertising on Facebook, Instagram or Google in Poland, this means adjusting their ad creative production processes, especially where they use generative AI to produce images or video. The EU's transparency requirements apply to Poland immediately, so local advertisers don't get the grace period that markets outside the heightened regulatory zones might have.

Both mechanisms are currently limited to the tech giants' own advertising platforms and don't cover, for instance, ads in traditional media or on other social platforms. Still, regulatory pressure, including enforcement of the EU's AI Act, can be expected to push more advertising platforms toward similar labeling in the coming months.

Sources: Meta Changes AI Ad Labels on Facebook and Instagram (proto.pl), Google Introduces New AI Labels for Ads (blog.google), Artificial Intelligence in Ads Under Scrutiny as Google Introduces Explicit Labels (imagazine.pl)