Facebook to let researchers access election ad data
We created this tool to enable academic researchers to study the impact of Facebook’s products on elections and included measures to protect people’s privacy and keep the platform secure
image for illustrative purpose
New Delhi: Facebook will let researchers' access, for the first time, the targeting information for more than 1.3 million social issue, electoral and political ads through the Facebook Open Research and Transparency (FORT) platform from February 1. This data package includes ads that ran during the three-month period prior to the US Election Day, from August 3 to November 3, 2020.
"We created this tool to enable academic researchers to study the impact of Facebook's products on elections and included measures to protect people's privacy and keep the platform secure," the social network said in a statement on Monday. Understanding how advertisers choose to target audiences is key to learning more about the impact of digital ads on specific events like elections.
"By making the targeting criteria, such as location and interests, selected by advertisers running social issue, electoral or political ads available for analysis and reporting, we hope to help people better understand the practices used to reach potential voters on Facebook," the company said.Also on February 1, the 'US 2020 Election Spend Tracker' data currently available in the Ad Library will be moved to the Elections page, where the information will remain available for download.This offers researchers, academics and others a look into how much presidential, senate and house candidates spent on ads during 2020, Facebook noted.
