2 ms·
> If you were in a targeted group known to be anti-immigrant then you'd get the anti-immigrant ad, if you were in a group that was pro-immigrant you might get t
by grandmczeb 6y ago
> If you were in a targeted group known to be anti-immigrant then you'd get the anti-immigrant ad, if you were in a group that was pro-immigrant you might get the tax-cut ad, if you were someone that would never vote for Trump then you'd get anti-hillary ads, etc.
That doesn't seem that different than e.g. tailoring a speech to emphasize whatever polices are important to the city a candidate is speaking in. I could imagine it being a problem if you're presenting completely different policies to different people (e.g. pro-gun to rural, anti-gun to urban) but all political Facebook ads are public and archived so I imagine that would get found out pretty quickly.
- fossuser 6y agoI think there’s a difference in kind when it’s targeted this precisely, repeatedly, and at scale. Most people aren’t going to see a candidate speak in their city, and even if they do - the targeting can’t be as precise. On national TV they’ll see a more general message. Most people are on Facebook though and vulnerable to these targeted ads. Even in their city, I think a tailored message is different than an ad tested for engagement in its ability to manipulate effectively (particularly when the candidate also lies, it’s easier to hide lies when you’re selecting people already motivated to believe them, and only showing the lies directly to those people).