The ways that companies keep tabs on your personal interests,
based on your online travels, is more than a little bit creepy.
Now, consider
the next step: Candidates who can track and target you with a flood of online
campaign ads based on your social media habits and your political views.
In a story written for Mother Jones by Russ Choma,
formerly of the highly regarded Center for Responsive Politics, he warns that
the 2016 cyberspace campaign will be unlike anything we’ve seen. The candidates’
digital advertising teams will know a lot about you, but you will know very
little about who is funding their handiwork.
formerly of the highly regarded Center for Responsive Politics, he warns that
the 2016 cyberspace campaign will be unlike anything we’ve seen. The candidates’
digital advertising teams will know a lot about you, but you will know very
little about who is funding their handiwork.
The key to this new strategy is that digital consultants can
pinpoint and analyze who’s seeing and clicking on what. Campaigns will use that
data to microtarget potential supporters with more precision than ever before,
especially on Facebook, according to Choma.
“Often, online ads are enticements to visit the website
of a candidate, super PAC, or dark-money group, where users are asked to
provide their names and contact information,” Choma writes. “Tracking how you
arrived at the website can give these outfits detailed background on your
online behavior, interests, and motivations, which in turn can be used to
solicit support or money.
of a candidate, super PAC, or dark-money group, where users are asked to
provide their names and contact information,” Choma writes. “Tracking how you
arrived at the website can give these outfits detailed background on your
online behavior, interests, and motivations, which in turn can be used to
solicit support or money.
“Online spots cost a fraction of TV ads, and operatives
are giddy over the new-and-improved ways to cheaply and creatively bombard
voters with their messages.”
The other side of this story is the dark money that
finances these tactics. Antiquated campaign finance rules that didn’t
anticipate the explosion of digital politicking provide nearly no oversight of
online ads. A disclaimer identifying who paid for the campaign material is
required only if someone pays to place an ad on a website. No disclosure is
required for material that is distributed freely via social media.
finances these tactics. Antiquated campaign finance rules that didn’t
anticipate the explosion of digital politicking provide nearly no oversight of
online ads. A disclaimer identifying who paid for the campaign material is
required only if someone pays to place an ad on a website. No disclosure is
required for material that is distributed freely via social media.
“In other words,” Choma explains, “an attack ad can find
its way onto YouTube or get retweeted or ‘liked’ a million times without anyone
knowing who made it. And so-called issue ads — spots that praise or slam a
candidate without explicitly telling you how to vote — are not required to
carry a disclaimer of any kind, no matter where they run online. That means a
dark money group can plaster the web with content, true or false, that is
devastating to a particular candidate without having to claim responsibility
for it.”
its way onto YouTube or get retweeted or ‘liked’ a million times without anyone
knowing who made it. And so-called issue ads — spots that praise or slam a
candidate without explicitly telling you how to vote — are not required to
carry a disclaimer of any kind, no matter where they run online. That means a
dark money group can plaster the web with content, true or false, that is
devastating to a particular candidate without having to claim responsibility
for it.”
