How To Reduce Political Ad Campaigns In Your Facebook And Instagram Feeds

The National Election here in the Philippines is just around the corner. Each political campaign manager is busy boosting their bets’ ratings with the aim to get the voters’ hearts. And part of their strategy is blasting political ad campaigns everywhere – especially through Social Media, such as Facebook and Instagram.

Probably, there’s nothing wrong with that. However, for others, excessive political ad campaigns can be annoying sometimes. Some capture screenshots and edit the ads for their ulterior motives.

That is why we would like to share with you this quick tip on how you can reduce political ad campaigns that should work on Facebook and Instagram. This is to minimize the so-called “noise” in your feeds.

Key Points

• Advertisements will not go away! Always bear in mind that whenever you open any applications, either on your mobile phone or desktop, that involve an Internet connection, ads will surely pop out on your screen.
• Reducing political ad campaigns in Facebook is not the only option you can opt out, you can also control other form of advertisements.
• The steps is not to totally block all related ads, but to serve you fewer advertisements.
• You can do the steps below on Facebook (desktop/mobile app) and Instagram.

To Reduce Political Ad Campaigns in Facebook Web (Desktop)

1. Open a web browser on your desktop, go to Facebook.com, and log in using your account.

2. Look for the inverted triangle and click the drop-down menu that is located on the top-right of your window.

3. Click the “Settings & privacy” option.

4. Then click “Settings“.

5. Then on your right pane, scroll down and click for “Ads“

6. Then select “Ad Topics“

7. Then on your main window (right), click the button “See Fewer” besides “Elections and politics“.

And you are done. Technically, the changes should immediately take effect and you should see fewer ads related to elections or politics. If not, try reloading or refreshing your browser (press F5 or CTRL+F5).

Reducing Political Ad Campaigns in Facebook App (Mobile)

We won’t be sharing any images to show how you can reduce political ad campaigns in the Facebook app. Our assumption is that app orientation may vary depending on the device (iOS/Andriod) or version you are using. But not to worry, the steps are pretty much the same.

1. Open your Facebook app then find and tap the Menu button (represented by 3 lines or also known as hamburger button).
2. Then find and tap on the gear icon (besides the magnifying glass icon). You will be redirected to your Settings & Privacy options.
3. Scroll down until you find Ad Preferences under Permissions. Tap that option.
4. Under Ad Preferences, you will see 3 options – Advertisers, Ad Topics, and Ad Settings. Tap Ad Topics.
5. Find Elections and politics and then tap See Fewer button.

How To See Fewer Election and Political Ads in Instagram

Since Instagram was acquired by Facebook (also known as Meta) back in 2020 because they see the app as a threat, the steps to reduce any political or election-related ads are somehow similar to how we did it on Facebook.

1. Open your Instagram app and then head to your profile by tapping on your avatar, which is along with the Home button.
2. Then tap the three lines button/icon (or hamburger button) and select Settings.
3. Find and tap the Ads option under Settings.
4. Under Ad Preferences, tap Ad topics.
5. In the new window, you will see your Ad Topic Preferences. All you have to do is select (or check) the ads you wanted to display less in your feeds. In our case, the Election and Polictics option should be checked.
6. Tap Save for the changes to take effect.

Ads Is Not Bad But Excessive Ads Can Is Not Healthy

Like what we have said, there’s nothing wrong with ads. Social Media platforms like Facebook and Instagram also need to earn through advertising to support and keep their platform up and running – for all users.

But anything excessive is not good especially if the ads are meant to discredit other people. We are now forgetting the main purpose of these platforms which is to share experiences. Bring good vibes to other people.

The way we see social media now, friends are now turning against each other, families are starting to drift away from each other, too many arguments and quarreling. And this is because each of them is expressing their own choice and opinions yet no one is ready to accept others.

This is why we are sharing this article with you to at least help reduce the noise in your feeds.