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Labour HQ used Facebook ads to deceive Jeremy Corbyn during election campaign

thetimes.co.uk

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Re: Labour HQ used Facebook ads to deceive Jeremy Corbyn during election campaign

#21

Post by 734786710934 »

wpietri wrote: post #12
andy_ppp wrote: post #8

So they ran ultra left wing ads micro targeted at Corbyn and similar supporters so these people thought everyone was seeing them. I really wonder if micro targeting should just be switched off for everyone during political campaigns. It allows political parties to do exactly this, be literally all things to all people rather than genuine in their messaging. How can we educate people this is happening? I’m certain it’…

Switching off microtargeting is a really interesting idea. I'd also love to see more disclosure. At least, "Why am I seeing this?" and "Who else is seeing this?" reports. But hopefully a full public dump of who's pushing what messages to whom.

That already exists. If you click the menu icon next to an ad on Facebook you can select "Why am I seeing this?". You can also see all the advertisers who have targeted you on https://www.facebook.com/ads/preferences/.

Re: Labour HQ used Facebook ads to deceive Jeremy Corbyn during election campaign

#23

Post by adamnemecek »

mygo wrote: post #20
adamnemecek wrote: post #5

Programming people seems to be the next frontier of programming.

crooks and con men have been doing as such long before digital computers.

Social engineering is more two sided. You are trying to get something out of these people, like something very concrete. This is more propaganda.

Re: Labour HQ used Facebook ads to deceive Jeremy Corbyn during election campaign

#24

Post by fareesh »

andy_ppp wrote: post #8

So they ran ultra left wing ads micro targeted at Corbyn and similar supporters so these people thought everyone was seeing them. I really wonder if micro targeting should just be switched off for everyone during political campaigns. It allows political parties to do exactly this, be literally all things to all people rather than genuine in their messaging. How can we educate people this is happening? I’m certain it’…

If you can speak to me one on one and tell me why I should vote for you, and you convince me - then you deserve my vote. Microtargeting allows you to do that at scale.

If I care about a certain issue and you advertise to me in a way that matches up to the things I care about, and present ideas that I agree with, then you are campaigning correctly.

If a politician saw that I cared about the environment and argued for upholding the Paris agreement - that would not win my vote, because I don't think the Paris agreement is a good solution to that problem. In this case, they lose my vote.

If they see that I care about income inequality but tell me that they will solve it by taxing the rich, I don't agree with that either - so they lose my vote.

Microtargeting is a tool just like the newspaper op-ed or the campaign commercial or the stump speech. Banning it because people are using it well is like taking away the stairs because some people use wheelchairs.

Re: Labour HQ used Facebook ads to deceive Jeremy Corbyn during election campaign

#25

Post by GreeniFi »

This is disturbing for the following reasons: 1. It alerts us to the possibility of fake political adverts. Do I (hypothetically)see an ad purporting to be a Tory ad promising something that will damage me, placed by a non-Tory actor? 2. Are unknown actors placing adverts which cause discord and dislike? 3. How do we solve this problem? Where FB is not regulated it will be impossible to knowingly audit the materials on its platform. 4. Given FB’s lobbying power, is regulation even possible?

Re: Labour HQ used Facebook ads to deceive Jeremy Corbyn during election campaign

#27

Post by andy_ppp »

fareesh wrote: post #24
andy_ppp wrote: post #8

So they ran ultra left wing ads micro targeted at Corbyn and similar supporters so these people thought everyone was seeing them. I really wonder if micro targeting should just be switched off for everyone during political campaigns. It allows political parties to do exactly this, be literally all things to all people rather than genuine in their messaging. How can we educate people this is happening? I’m certain it’…

If you can speak to me one on one and tell me why I should vote for you, and you convince me - then you deserve my vote. Microtargeting allows you to do that at scale. If I care about a certain issue and you advertise to me in a way that matches up to the things I care about, and present ideas that I agree with, then you are campaigning correctly. If a politician saw that I cared about the environment and argued for…

What seems to constantly happen is that we are instead served up the porridge that’s specifically for us while we don’t see the whole picture and what all the other people have also been promised.

What I’m saying is that the narrative of a manifesto or even what a political party stands for is corrupted by being “all things to all people” in their messaging.

Re: Labour HQ used Facebook ads to deceive Jeremy Corbyn during election campaign

#29

Post by toomuchtodo »

cozzyd wrote: post #28

Next you'll have morning tv shows specifically targeting world leaders who watch them.

If you want to get meta, John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight has bought ads during Fox And Friends to counter the show’s influence on the president.

http://thehill.com/homenews/media/360076-john-oliver-to-snea...

EDIT: Oof, tough croud.

Re: Labour HQ used Facebook ads to deceive Jeremy Corbyn during election campaign

#30

Post by alangpierce »

trhway wrote: post #22

i think microtargetting criteria should be disclosed the same way as who paid for the ad, be it commercial or political, doesn't matter. "This ad targeting filters: 'white, male, xenophobe', paid for by Russian government"

I think this actually already happens (at least the criteria part) for Facebook ads. I just went to Facebook and went to the "..." menu for one of the ads that showed up and clicked "Why am I seeing this?". It said this:

"You're seeing this ad because Freshly wants to reach people ages 18 and older who live or were recently in California. This is information based on your Facebook profile and where you've connected to the internet."

So my impression is that Facebook already allows you to see the exact targeting criteria that went into any ad that shows up. Maybe if this was more prominent, especially in cases where the filter seems suspiciously like microtargeting, the trick wouldn't have worked.

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