Facebook launches AR advertising

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Facebook is trialling augmented reality (AR) advertising units for selected advertisers on its news feed in the lead-up to Christmas.

The trial is the latest in a raft of changes that has seen Facebook launch an unprecedented global advertising campaign and take back control of its news feed to combat fake news in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica data scandal.

In June, Facebook launched an eight-week marketing campaign, ‘Here Together’, targeted at Australian consumers.

This followed the more than 310,000 Australians who may have had their data improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica, according to a Facebook update in April. Facebook information of up to 87 million people, mostly in the US, has been illegitimately collected.

Since then, Facebook has made significant changes to protect people's privacy, removing fake accounts from the platform and removing fake news.

Now, Facebook is offering AR ads in Facebook news feed, means people can experiment with a brand’s AR camera effects from an ad. For example, users can try on a lipstick shade before making a purchase.

Michael Kors is the first brand to test AR ads in news feed, enabling people to try on a pair of sunglasses and make a purchase based on their experience. Later this year, Facebook will begin testing AR ads with some additional advertisers such as Sephora and others in fashion accessories, cosmetics, furniture, gaming and entertainment, before rolling out AR ads more broadly to other industries over the course of the year.

Facebook also launched a Video Creation Kit to make it easier for advertisers to create mobile-first video ads. Video Creation Kit is currently in testing and will start rolling out to all advertisers in August for ads on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and Audience Network.

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