Who Targets Me
@whotargets.me
On political ads, transparency and what's right for democracy. Go to https://whotargets.me/download to get involved, check out https://trends.whotargets.me for data on >100k digital political advertisers. Newsletter: fulldisclosure.whotargets.me
Reposted by Who Targets Me
Here's a blog post on the changes we've made (and what we want to do next):
whotargets.me/en/changes-t...
whotargets.me/en/changes-t...
Changes to Trends (Nov 2025) – Who Targets Me
whotargets.me
November 10, 2025 at 10:46 AM
Here's a blog post on the changes we've made (and what we want to do next):
whotargets.me/en/changes-t...
whotargets.me/en/changes-t...
Reposted by Who Targets Me
After many months work, we launched a major new version of our Trends political ad tracking platform this morning.
Take a look (and let us know your feedback - we'd love to hear from you):
trends.whotargets.me/reports
Take a look (and let us know your feedback - we'd love to hear from you):
trends.whotargets.me/reports
November 10, 2025 at 10:45 AM
After many months work, we launched a major new version of our Trends political ad tracking platform this morning.
Take a look (and let us know your feedback - we'd love to hear from you):
trends.whotargets.me/reports
Take a look (and let us know your feedback - we'd love to hear from you):
trends.whotargets.me/reports
After many months work, we launched a major new version of our Trends political ad tracking platform this morning.
Take a look (and let us know your feedback - we'd love to hear from you):
trends.whotargets.me/reports
Take a look (and let us know your feedback - we'd love to hear from you):
trends.whotargets.me/reports
November 10, 2025 at 10:45 AM
After many months work, we launched a major new version of our Trends political ad tracking platform this morning.
Take a look (and let us know your feedback - we'd love to hear from you):
trends.whotargets.me/reports
Take a look (and let us know your feedback - we'd love to hear from you):
trends.whotargets.me/reports
Meta and Washington (the state, not DC) are in court, battling out whether the company violated state-level political ad transparency rules.
courthousenews.com/meta-fights-...
courthousenews.com/meta-fights-...
Meta fights $35 million penalty over Washington’s political ad law
Lower courts found the social media giant violated the state’s campaign finance law 822 times, but Washington justices are wondering whether the regulations are overly burdensome.
courthousenews.com
November 7, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Meta and Washington (the state, not DC) are in court, battling out whether the company violated state-level political ad transparency rules.
courthousenews.com/meta-fights-...
courthousenews.com/meta-fights-...
Kemi Badenoch is currently spending around £1,000 a day on ads asking people to like/follow her on Facebook. She currently has 183k followers (predecessors Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson have 1.1M and 2.3M respectively, though Liz Truss only 117k).
November 7, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Kemi Badenoch is currently spending around £1,000 a day on ads asking people to like/follow her on Facebook. She currently has 183k followers (predecessors Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson have 1.1M and 2.3M respectively, though Liz Truss only 117k).
This piece suggests Meta is dragging its heels on reducing the (very large) number of scam ads on its services because they're concerned it will materially hurt revenue (the article estimates they make as much as $16bn a year from scam ads)
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
www.reuters.com
November 6, 2025 at 12:02 PM
This piece suggests Meta is dragging its heels on reducing the (very large) number of scam ads on its services because they're concerned it will materially hurt revenue (the article estimates they make as much as $16bn a year from scam ads)
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
Digital political ad spending in the US has crept up over the last two weeks, ahead of tomorrow's elections. Last year the peak day (Oct 30) saw almost $25m of political ads on Meta and Google. This year the peak spend is $3.8m (so far).
November 3, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Digital political ad spending in the US has crept up over the last two weeks, ahead of tomorrow's elections. Last year the peak day (Oct 30) saw almost $25m of political ads on Meta and Google. This year the peak spend is $3.8m (so far).
Research from Hungarian fact-checkers Lakmusz shows how Orban-aligned political actors are circumventing Meta's "ban" on political ads in the EU (in Hungarian, but auto-translates well):
lakmusz.hu/2025/10/28/s...
lakmusz.hu/2025/10/28/s...
Százas nagyságrendben csúsznak át a Facebook szűrőjén a digitális polgári körökbe toborzó hirdetések
Jelenleg is egy rakás DPK-s bejegyzés fut szponzorált posztként a platformon, annak ellenére, hogy a Facebook október 6-án elvileg felfüggesztette az EU területén a politikai reklámokat. A hirdetésekk...
lakmusz.hu
November 3, 2025 at 10:46 AM
Research from Hungarian fact-checkers Lakmusz shows how Orban-aligned political actors are circumventing Meta's "ban" on political ads in the EU (in Hungarian, but auto-translates well):
lakmusz.hu/2025/10/28/s...
lakmusz.hu/2025/10/28/s...
Reposted by Who Targets Me
Reform actually struggled with this in GE2024, over-spending in places they didn't ultimately win, and not spending at all in at least one seat they did. The jump from trying to win <5 seats to trying to win ~50 is a difficult strategic question.
November 2, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Reform actually struggled with this in GE2024, over-spending in places they didn't ultimately win, and not spending at all in at least one seat they did. The jump from trying to win <5 seats to trying to win ~50 is a difficult strategic question.
Reposted by Who Targets Me
This is quite different to last year's General Election, where they put a lot of money in, albeit to a small number of target seats. The challenge will be, as their appeal broadens, can they find the right places to invest?
November 2, 2025 at 5:36 PM
This is quite different to last year's General Election, where they put a lot of money in, albeit to a small number of target seats. The challenge will be, as their appeal broadens, can they find the right places to invest?
Reposted by Who Targets Me
One of the interesting things about the growth of the Green Party (particularly their membership) in the UK over the last several months is that it's happened (no pun intended) organically. They've barely spent anything on digital ads, and nothing at all from their main party accounts.
November 2, 2025 at 5:36 PM
One of the interesting things about the growth of the Green Party (particularly their membership) in the UK over the last several months is that it's happened (no pun intended) organically. They've barely spent anything on digital ads, and nothing at all from their main party accounts.
One of the interesting things about the growth of the Green Party (particularly their membership) in the UK over the last several months is that it's happened (no pun intended) organically. They've barely spent anything on digital ads, and nothing at all from their main party accounts.
November 2, 2025 at 5:36 PM
One of the interesting things about the growth of the Green Party (particularly their membership) in the UK over the last several months is that it's happened (no pun intended) organically. They've barely spent anything on digital ads, and nothing at all from their main party accounts.
Labour launched a new ad including a clip of Sarah Pochin's racist comments on black and asian people in TV ads, arguing Reform represents "division and grievance". Ad here: www.facebook.com/ads/library/...
November 1, 2025 at 11:14 AM
Labour launched a new ad including a clip of Sarah Pochin's racist comments on black and asian people in TV ads, arguing Reform represents "division and grievance". Ad here: www.facebook.com/ads/library/...
New Tory digital ad campaign, going after Labour on (expected) tax rises.
November 1, 2025 at 10:58 AM
New Tory digital ad campaign, going after Labour on (expected) tax rises.
Cuomo vs. Mamdani vs. Silwa digital ad spend (Google + Meta) over the last month. We've included the PACs supporting their candidacies (if we didn't, Andrew Cuomo would have spent <$1k - there's almost no positive advertising in his own name).
October 30, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Cuomo vs. Mamdani vs. Silwa digital ad spend (Google + Meta) over the last month. We've included the PACs supporting their candidacies (if we didn't, Andrew Cuomo would have spent <$1k - there's almost no positive advertising in his own name).
This is the data from the last month that social media ads were available to Dutch parties (ending Oct 4th). It can't tell you much about campaign effectiveness, but perhaps it does show that D66 and FvD were confident about improving their positions.
October 29, 2025 at 9:36 PM
This is the data from the last month that social media ads were available to Dutch parties (ending Oct 4th). It can't tell you much about campaign effectiveness, but perhaps it does show that D66 and FvD were confident about improving their positions.
Reposted by Who Targets Me
We've a new piece in @techpolicypress.bsky.social on the decision by Meta and Google to ban political, social and issue-based ads in the European Union. It's a seismic shift for European campaigning, but there won't be any winners: www.techpolicy.press/meta-and-goo...
Meta and Google’s Ad Ban Upends Political Campaigning in Europe | TechPolicy.Press
If the only people to truly benefit from change are the ones who present the greatest challenge to democracy, we’re in a very bad place, writes Sam Jeffers.
www.techpolicy.press
October 22, 2025 at 1:41 PM
We've a new piece in @techpolicypress.bsky.social on the decision by Meta and Google to ban political, social and issue-based ads in the European Union. It's a seismic shift for European campaigning, but there won't be any winners: www.techpolicy.press/meta-and-goo...
We've a new piece in @techpolicypress.bsky.social on the decision by Meta and Google to ban political, social and issue-based ads in the European Union. It's a seismic shift for European campaigning, but there won't be any winners: www.techpolicy.press/meta-and-goo...
Meta and Google’s Ad Ban Upends Political Campaigning in Europe | TechPolicy.Press
If the only people to truly benefit from change are the ones who present the greatest challenge to democracy, we’re in a very bad place, writes Sam Jeffers.
www.techpolicy.press
October 22, 2025 at 1:41 PM
We've a new piece in @techpolicypress.bsky.social on the decision by Meta and Google to ban political, social and issue-based ads in the European Union. It's a seismic shift for European campaigning, but there won't be any winners: www.techpolicy.press/meta-and-goo...
Reform running ads calling on people to sign a petition against local elections in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Surrey, East and West Sussex and Hampshire being postponed next year. So far, £2.5k spent, 500k people reached, 75k signatures. But there are two sides to this story...
October 22, 2025 at 11:36 AM
Reform running ads calling on people to sign a petition against local elections in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Surrey, East and West Sussex and Hampshire being postponed next year. So far, £2.5k spent, 500k people reached, 75k signatures. But there are two sides to this story...
Report on how the platform political ad bans boost far-right Geert Wilders in the Netherlands.
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Dutch Far Right Gets Unexpected Boost From AI, Political Ad Ban
Meta and Google have blocked political advertising in Europe, leaving elections at the mercy of Big Tech’s algorithms.
www.bloomberg.com
October 22, 2025 at 6:10 AM
Report on how the platform political ad bans boost far-right Geert Wilders in the Netherlands.
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Good to see our dashboards and data used by the always-excellent Expert Forum in their analysis of political ads and finance during the Romanian presidential election campaign earlier this year:
expertforum.ro/publicitatea...
expertforum.ro/publicitatea...
Publicitatea politică online după alegerile prezidențiale. Probabil ultimul raport
Din 10 octombrie a intrat în vigoare cea mai substanțială parte din Regulamentul 900/2004 privind publicitatea politică (TTPA). Cu puțin timp înainte de acest termen, pe 8 octombrie, Comisia a publica...
expertforum.ro
October 20, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Good to see our dashboards and data used by the always-excellent Expert Forum in their analysis of political ads and finance during the Romanian presidential election campaign earlier this year:
expertforum.ro/publicitatea...
expertforum.ro/publicitatea...
Article on a single piece of attack content being pushed by one of the current Irish presidential election campaigns. With no ads to buy, they're getting aggressive to try and find some algorithmic juice. And it doesn't really seem to work.
www.thebriefing.ie/fine-gaels-a...
www.thebriefing.ie/fine-gaels-a...
Fine Gael's Attack Ad: Áras25 in Content
By burying the lede and handing over airtime, have Fine Gael committed an own goal?
www.thebriefing.ie
October 20, 2025 at 11:07 AM
Article on a single piece of attack content being pushed by one of the current Irish presidential election campaigns. With no ads to buy, they're getting aggressive to try and find some algorithmic juice. And it doesn't really seem to work.
www.thebriefing.ie/fine-gaels-a...
www.thebriefing.ie/fine-gaels-a...
This Facebook ad, from Reform's candidate ahead of next week's Caerphilly Senedd by-election, is potentially misleading (regardless of the result, Labour will hold the Westminster seat).
October 17, 2025 at 12:24 PM
This Facebook ad, from Reform's candidate ahead of next week's Caerphilly Senedd by-election, is potentially misleading (regardless of the result, Labour will hold the Westminster seat).
Check out Campaign Tracker NL, looking at the use of AI in the Dutch election campaign (and here are some particularly egregious examples from Geert Wilders' PVV and aligned pages)
www.campaigntracker.nl/explore/
www.campaigntracker.nl/explore/
October 16, 2025 at 8:06 AM
Check out Campaign Tracker NL, looking at the use of AI in the Dutch election campaign (and here are some particularly egregious examples from Geert Wilders' PVV and aligned pages)
www.campaigntracker.nl/explore/
www.campaigntracker.nl/explore/
For years, Google defined "political ads" so narrowly as to be almost useless. The least they could do was make ads clearly designed to persuade people of a political view maximally transparent and accountable. They never did. A complete failure on their part.
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
Google email shows it ruled Israel’s ads claiming ‘There is food in Gaza’ aren’t misleading
An internal Google email said it received many complaints about Israeli government YouTube ads about food access in Gaza, but ruled they could remain online.
www.washingtonpost.com
October 15, 2025 at 5:13 PM
For years, Google defined "political ads" so narrowly as to be almost useless. The least they could do was make ads clearly designed to persuade people of a political view maximally transparent and accountable. They never did. A complete failure on their part.
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...