Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Platforms should make all ads public

In my most recent opinion piece, I argue that platforms like Facebook, Google, Twitter, and other platforms that publish ads targeted at custom audiences, should publish a full, live public archive of all targeted online advertisements, displaying:
  • the ad, 
  • its source, 
  • a description of the targeted audience, 
  • the amount spent, 
  • impressions delivered and 
  • the demographics of the audience reached.
In the case of election advertisements, the archive should also identify:

  • the candidate that is the subject of the ad, and 
  • issue that is the subject of the ad. 
I argue that the archive should be live, enabling the immediate identification of problems - before the election is over.

You can read the full piece here.