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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Meta and Google’s Ad Ban Upends Political Campaigning in Europe
More >>: Meta and Google’s Ad Ban Upends Political Campaigning in EuropeOriginally published in Tech Policy Press, 22nd Oct 2025 The collective decision by Meta and Google to ban political, social and issue-based ads in the European Union, citing the European Union’s new Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising (TTPA) regulation, is a seismic shift that will fundamentally reshape political campaigning across the continent. Some will rejoice. Political ads can be…
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Does US ownership of TikTok matter for political ads and campaigns?
More >>: Does US ownership of TikTok matter for political ads and campaigns?TikTok is about to be split in two. The largest social media market in the world, the US, will soon forcibly acquire the company’s American operations and put it in the hands of a conglomerate of tech and media billionaires. They will be able to run it however they choose. How might the two TikToks diverge? The primary change people…
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Studying the monetisation of low-credibility content
More >>: Studying the monetisation of low-credibility contentWe worked with Science Feedback to examine the financial infrastructure that enables misinformation in Europe. We performed a broad, multi-methods analysis of advertising and monetisation practices across major social media services offering ads to look at the difference in the monetisation rates of low- and high-credibility content. Read the full report and research. We’re grateful to the European Media and…
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The disappearing ad library
More >>: The disappearing ad libraryThis weekend, seven years after it first launched in the US, the Meta Ad Library (MAL) stops growing. When it launched in 2018, Meta (then Facebook) said it would store a comprehensive, searchable database of political ads on its services for seven years. Since then, the MAL has been used by academics, journalists, civil society and individual voters to monitor…
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.