We’re making online political ads more transparent
…with a tool to track the ads you see, data and analysis for academics, researchers and journalists, and advocacy for better policy from platforms, regulators and governments.
Latest policy and research
-
How to turn off political ads on Facebook
More >>: How to turn off political ads on FacebookFacebook introduces a ‘kill switch’ for political advertising in the US. Over the past five years we’ve seen a massive increase in the level of political advertising through digital platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Google. Alongside legitimate campaigning, thanks to a lack of oversight, it’s also become the perfect place to seed disinformation and manipulate political opinion. Now, in response…
-
Ten simple ideas to regulate online political advertising in the UK
More >>: Ten simple ideas to regulate online political advertising in the UKYesterday, the UK Advertising Standards Authority’s CEO Guy Parker published a piece outlining some of the challenges of regulating online political ads in the UK (challenges which are also broadly applicable to other democracies). We agree that it’s difficult to regulate the content of political ads. That’s why we don’t think it’s the answer to this problem. It’s simply too politicised a task…
-
How to fact check political ads
More >>: How to fact check political adsRecently, we published ‘10 ideas for regulating political ads’ (which you might want to read before you read this). One idea that some argue for that we don’t agree with is having a regulator fact check them. In the heat of an election campaign, we don’t think it’s sustainable or desirable for a regulator, no matter how notionally independent from…
-
The Ad Transparency “Triple Decker”
More >>: The Ad Transparency “Triple Decker”Over the past couple of years, we’ve written and contributed to thinking about increasing political ad transparency, from a self-regulatory and regulatory perspective, but also from a technical perspective, where a precise description of what can help voters read and interpret political advertising is now significantly clearer. Gradually, in response to negative media coverage and public pressure on these issues,…
What we do
Trends: Our ad data platform
Live tracking of online ad spending, targeting and content from 200k+ pages from 1500+ parties in 60+ countries. >>
Browser extension
Installed by over 100,000 people to help them learn more about the political ads they see and aid scientific research. >>
Training and consulting
Helping people develop their own research projects to better understand the ways technology and democracy interact. >>
Understand social media
Building ecologically valid studies to learn how users respond to changes in platform design, content and algorithms. >>
Policy and analysis
Developing and promoting ideas that improve trust and transparency in election campaigns in the digital age. >>
Newsletter
Full Disclosure is our regular newsletter on what parties and candidates are doing with their digital political ads. >>
Tools and projects
Trends: Our ad data platform
- Live tracking the spending, messaging and targeting of 200k+ advertisers in 60+ countries
- Monitor change over time. Who’s up? Who’s down?
- Dig into presidential races, referendums and local campaigns
- Explore the data and sign up for an account
Our Browser Extension
- Sees the political social media ads you see (nothing else)
- Helps put them in context
- Donates them for research
- Install for Chrome, Firefox or Edge
Understanding social media
- Allows researchers to run ecologically valid experimental studies with real content on real social media interfaces
- Learn how users react to re-ranking, labelling, literacy interventions and exposure to different types of content
- For quantitative and qualitative study
- Learn more
Sign up to Full Disclosure
Our newsletter on how political campaigns use ads, and what it all means.