New Tool Tracks Parties' Facebook Targeting

In the UK, a citizen-led non-partisan group led by Sam Jeffers and Louis Knight-Webb has launched a plug-in tool called Who Targets Me? (WTM), to identify which political parties are targeting individuals through their Facebook feeds.

WTM has been created by a team of developers, researchers, lawyers and journalists to monitor the advertising strategies of the parties, and encourage transparency across the political system. Available to download through a Google Chrome browser extension, WTM scans users' profiles and identifies the political parties that are targeting them with advertising during the 2017 general election campaign. The WTM team says that analysing the aggregated data will draw out insights about exactly which demographics are being targeted and the exact media and language that campaigners are using to influence individuals' votes.

In the run up to the 2015 general election, almost £1.5m was spent on targeted Facebook advertising by political parties (including £1.2m by the Conservatives and just £160k by the Labour party). Commenting on the launch, Jeffers (pictured) said: 'Facebook knows the town you live in and the things you like. This means campaigns can target everyone from those with certain interests to those who live in marginal seats. The statistics we'll be able to present nationally are trends such as overall campaign methods, how much targeting parties are doing, what geographical area they are going after and what messages they're using to reach certain demographics'.

Web site: www.whotargets.me .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.