Real transparency at @facebook: a public file of all paid political ads, on a public website with bulk #opendata downloads & an API, none of which require the public to log into @Facebook.
Do better, @finkd.
Given past, current or predictable interference, opacity is unpatriotic.pic.twitter.com/YA9b7Blgsr
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It was easy to use
@Facebook's new archive of "ads with political content" – essentially a simple search tool for paid political ads that have run since May 7, 2018 – once I got on my laptop and logged in. I found recent ads that matched Trump, Clinton, gun control & corruption.pic.twitter.com/Fhx0lrMzBE
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If you click "see ad performance," you see the ad content, who paid, when it was active, how many impressions it received, total spent, & breakdown of audience by age, gender & location. But clicking "view all ads" brings you to aggregate search results, NOT the page or a profilepic.twitter.com/8XtzmWqdYy
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If you click on the username – in this case, Donald Trump,
@realDonaldTrump's campaign account on@Facebook – you arrive at the Page behind the ads. Unfortunately, there's no tab for political ads or link to this archive. It's hard to see how folks will find them, without it.pic.twitter.com/EASlccVAhF
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Companies should disclose open data of political ad spending in a machine-readable format online – which means no restrictions. https://sunlightfoundation.com/2017/09/12/technology-companies-should-publish-political-advertising-files-online/ …
@Facebook should honor its commitments to support the Honest Ads Act & start implementing it. This interface isn't good enough.pic.twitter.com/3KYE39s2Y3
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The good news is that I think
@Facebook understands this page as a start, not an end. In a post today,@robleathern wrote that they're "working closely" with a new "Election Commission" to launch an API for the archives: https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/05/ads-with-political-content/ … (Good news, but no deadline cited.)pic.twitter.com/iszvhjvEZc
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It's hard for me not to be happy that
@Facebook is finally explicitly embracing political ad transparency in words & (some) deeds, including public soul searching about what's political & a policy: https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/05/hard-questions-political-ads/ … That's progress. It's just long overdue.pic.twitter.com/p99Tj0FjiS
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The other good news is that now
@Google &@Twitter could trump@Facebook's efforts, with respect to disclosures, disclaimers & open data. @brucefalck shared Twitter's new ad political@Policy today: https://blog.twitter.com/official/en_us/topics/company/2018/Increasing-Transparency-for-Political-Campaigning-Ads-on-Twitter.html … Competition on transparency will benefit the public.pic.twitter.com/sFI1ufQiUj
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The bad news is that press is quite likely going to focus on
@Facebook (&@Instagram) today, & then@Twitter &@Google. On the one hand,$FB +$GOOG run the majority of online ads: https://www.emarketer.com/content/google-and-facebook-s-digital-dominance-fading-as-rivals-share-grows … On the other,@Amazon@Snap@Microsoft &@Oath should also be transparent!pic.twitter.com/q3iO9cgmU1
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Ultimately, elected representatives should be the ones to enact standards for transparency for political ads online after debate, not tech companies executives. Until Congress & legislatures around the world empower regulators like
@FEC, however, I'm glad to see positive actions.Show this thread
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