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
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About the Conservatives “Support The Brexit Deal” ads
More >>: About the Conservatives “Support The Brexit Deal” adsOn 29th November, the Conservatives launched 152 ads about Brexit. They are promoting seven different videos, each with a slightly different angle on the proposed deal. All have the same call to action – for people to visit https://www.backthebrexitdeal.com and email their MP, asking them to support the Prime Minister’s deal next week. On 30th November, they launched 7 more ads, meaning…
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Dark ads are finally dead
More >>: Dark ads are finally deadSome things that have been bubbling along for a while moved forward last week. First, Facebook and Twitter launched new ad transparency initiatives. You can now view the ads that accounts are running. ‘Dark ads’ are dead. Neither implementation is perfect. Discovery is still hard (you don’t know what you’re looking for, particularly for campaigns outside the political mainstream) and…
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Advice for parties and campaigns
More >>: Advice for parties and campaignsTechnology and data are changing the way elections work, but there’s not enough debate on the part of campaigns and their consultants about whether the new techniques they’re adopting are a good thing for democracy. I was at a conference for political consultants last week. Those present worked on polling and political messaging all over the world. This was before…
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How much Facebook makes, per user, per minute spent on Facebook
More >>: How much Facebook makes, per user, per minute spent on Facebook(If you’re interested in political ads, why not install our browser extension, which helps you understand more about how campaigns use them) One of the questions we often get asked is how much is spent on ads in political campaigns. In the UK, political parties must report a breakdown of their expenditure. It’s therefore possible to work out how much…
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.