This paper investigates whether it is possible for external publics to detect algorithmic targeting in political advertisements, using the tools provided by the Facebook Ad Library.
News and Research articles on Political micro-targeting
How can we monitor political ads circulating on social media in the run-up to an election? This essay learns from the project "Analysis of Political Ads in Digital Campaigns”, combining scraping methods and public opinion research to investigate how online advertising shape political preferences in the Dutch general elections (15-17 March 2021). It further reflects on the challenges of studying the impact of political micro-targeting.
Targeted political advertising can potentially exclude voter segments from important political information, and undermine the democratic process
In the wake of the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal, it is timely to review the state of the debate about the impact of data-driven elections and to identify key questions that require academic research and regulatory response. The papers in this collection, by some of the world’s most prominent elections researchers, offer that assessment.
This paper analyses the spread of misinformation in the context of 2018 Brazilian elections. We give a general overview of the Brazilian political context, its media ecosystem and the weaponisation of the country’s most popular messaging app, WhatsApp, as a political persuasion tool. The current architecture of the platform does not allow, once appropriated for purposes of election campaigns, users to notice or become aware that they are being monitored and managed.
Political micro-targeting has become a popular topic after the surprise results of the 2016 US presidential election, the UK vote on leaving the European Union, and a number of general elections in Europe in 2017. Yet, we still know little about whether PMT is a tool with destructive potential or if it’s “just” a new phenomenon to be incorporated into our political processes.
Abbreviated version of a speech delivered by the Member of the European Partiament Sophie in ‘t Veld in Amsterdam in May 2017 to Data & Democracy, a conference on political micro-targeting.
A short Q&A with researchers Tom Dobber and Natali Helberger.