Online political ads still susceptible
Experts warn that systems are vulnerable to misuse by both foreign governments and domestic actors.
Older men in Arkansas might have recently seen a close-up photo of President Donald Trump pumping his fist in the air, along with a message asking them to donate $30 to his campaign for a Super Bowl commercial.
Middle-aged women in California might have seen a photo of Trump pointing to a crowd, with a plea for them to give “any amount” to the campaign.
Before Election Day, politicians across party lines are expected to spend more than $1 billion to pelt voters with millions of these cheap online ads, which can be tailored to a voter’s most personal details — down to one household or even a single individual.
Experts warn that this ad-targeting system is still vulnerable to manipulation by foreign governments and domestic actors trying to influence the election, just as they did in 2016. Those attempts could become more sophisticated this year as tech companies wrestle with a dysfunctional federal election watchdog agency and deploy haphazard safeguards that still offer plenty of loopholes.
“There’s now so much money and attention spent online with so few rules that if you wanted chaos, that’s the place to go for chaos,” said David Karpf, a political communications professor at The George Washington University.
According to Facebook, Russia-connected accounts spent about $100,000 on Facebook ads during the 2016 presidential election. The ads seemed to fan division on polarizing issues such as gun control and race relations. That’s a fraction of the cost of a single 30-second spot on a major TV network.
But it was enough to stir up trouble. In response, Google, Facebook and Twitter instituted verification policies that require advertisers to confirm their identity using their organization’s tax identification number or other government ID. Twitter later banned all political ads.
“Microtargeting” allowed the divisive messages to reach small pockets of voters in certain geographical locations based on their specific interests.
In January, Google began limiting U.S. advertisers’ ability to target political ads beyond broad categories such as sex, age and ZIP code. Facebook will continue to allow campaigns to target voters for any reason.
Such targeting technology offers distinct advantages.
A candidate running a TV spot might reach a specific audience watching the show “The Real Housewives of Atlanta.” But on Facebook that same candidate can run a specific ad aimed at Atlanta housewives who lean moderate, like to hunt and hold a master’s degree, for instance.
In Texas, for example, Republican strategist Chris
Wilson said his polling found suburban women were frustrated by red-light cameras, so he targeted thousands of them on Facebook with ads promising that his client GOP Gov. Greg Abbott would abolish the cameras if elected to a second term in 2018.
Abbott won and signed a law last summer banning red-light cameras in the state.
Google and Facebook have spent years collecting troves of data that now help campaigns persuade voters, said Luca Cian, a professor at the Darden School of Business who focuses on how marketing affects political campaigns.
“I can specify that one person in one specific household should see a specific ad,” he said. “And their neighbor could see a different ad.”
It’s not just campaigns running ads. With the click of a button and a few hundred dollars, ordinary people or businesses can now purchase political ads that are directed at specific groups of people to see.
The sheer volume of ads makes it nearly impossible to track them.
“How does anybody even begin to try and keep up and monitor tens of thousands or maybe millions of ads?” asked Ellen Weintraub, chairwoman of the Federal Election Commission, the taxpayer-funded watchdog agency that creates and enforces rules for federal campaigns.