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Reddit is publicly tracking all political ads on its site ahead of 2020 election

The site launches a subreddit dedicated to political ad transparency.

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Reddit is updating its political ad policies in an attempt to increase transparency ahead of the 2020 election. All political ad campaigns running on Reddit will now be publicly tracked in a subreddit, r/RedditPoliticalAds, and include information like spending and impressions, the company said Monday.

The social media site also said political advertisers will be required to work directly with the site's sales team and leave comments open for at least the first 24 hours of a campaign. 

"We hope this update will give you a chance to engage directly and transparently with political advertisers around important political issues, and provide a line of sight into the campaigns and political organizations seeking your attention," the company said in an announcement

Reddit said r/RedditPoliticalAds will be updated consistently and list ads dating back to Jan. 1, 2019. For each ad, Reddit will show information on the individual advertiser, its targeting, impressions and spending on a per-campaign basis (in ranges rather than specific figures).

Like Reddit, other social media sites have made changes to how they handle political ads as the November election gets closer. Twitter last fall banned political ads on its site, with some exceptions. Facebook has also taken steps to provide more information about political ads on its site but has faced criticism for a policy that allows politicians to lie in ads.