Meta earns updated ad safety certifications for its platforms

Meta has been reaccredited by the Media Rating Council (MRC) for content-level brand safety across its platforms, according to an announcement made this week. The accreditation applies to Facebook and Instagram Feeds in English and Spanish and reflects the MRC’s approval of Meta’s documented processes for brand safety and ad measurement.

The MRC accreditation confirms that Meta’s reporting systems comply with several industry standards, including the Minimum Standards for Media Rating Research and guidelines from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). However, the approval is based on a review of Meta’s documentation, not direct observation of its operational enforcement.

In its statement, the MRC noted, “Accreditation indicates that the Measurement Statistics reported for the Service comply with: (1) the Minimum Standards for Media Rating Research, the Enhanced Content Level Context and Brand Safety Guidelines and the Business Partner Qualification requirements of the Invalid Traffic Detection and Filtration Standards Addendum (version 2.0) published by the MRC; the Ad Verification Guidelines published by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB); (2) the procedures described in Meta’s answers to the MRC questionnaire; and (3) the procedures described in procedure manuals and textual materials included in reports of the Service."

One notable exclusion in the MRC’s assessment is misinformation. The council stated that misinformation remains under review, as Meta’s enforcement approach in this area is undergoing changes. Specifically, the shift towards using Community Notes, a crowdsourced system for content moderation, is still being evaluated.

“Misinformation is excluded from accreditation and remains in process of review as Community Notes applied to this category are being assessed,” the MRC said.

This exclusion means the MRC is not currently offering assurances on how misinformation is handled across Facebook, Instagram, or Threads — a point that may influence advertiser confidence, depending on content sensitivity.

Alongside the MRC re-accreditation, Meta has also received brand safety re-certification from the Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG) for the sixth consecutive year. Additionally, Integral Ad Science (IAS) has expanded its contextual category reporting on Meta platforms. The reporting, part of IAS’s Total Media Quality (TMQ) suite, uses multimedia technology to analyse video content frame-by-frame, incorporating audio and text to provide brand safety and suitability measurement at scale.

IAS said, “Total Media Quality (TMQ) for Meta, contextual category reporting provides advertisers with the most accurate and actionable brand safety and suitability measurement.”

While the reaccreditation and new reporting tools may offer reassurance to advertisers, the absence of misinformation coverage remains a significant gap in oversight.