4 ms·

Interesting, why do you think so? I feel like paid, targeted ads on platforms everyone uses are extremely insidous, because an incumbent or major political par

by x3ro 2y ago

Interesting, why do you think so? I feel like paid, targeted ads on platforms everyone uses are extremely insidous, because an incumbent or major political party will always have more funds than an e.g. an upstart party, and targeting is generally bad as it's easy to play into people's preconceived notions that way, instead of presenting your position or the change you advocate for. Edit: replaced "incumbent" with "incumebt or major political party"

spacebanana7 2y ago
Winning at targeted ads is more of a skill game. You typically only need a few thousand well placed votes to win an election, and even 100k impressions at $10 CPM is pretty inexpensive.
- piva00 2y ago
  > You typically only need a few thousand well placed votes to win an election, and even 100k impressions at $10 CPM is pretty inexpensive. In the context of the EU this isn't true though, no political system in any EU member state relies on a tiny minority of votes from some states/provinces to completely tip an election.
  - spacebanana7 2y ago
    There are still some discontinuities in the electoral systems where smallish number of votes can have a massive impact. For example the run off thresholds in French legislative elections. And some places like Italy still use FPTP in a hybrid form. However you're correct that there's nothing quite like Pennsylvania in the EU. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_French_legislative_election#Electoral_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_French_legislative_electi... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Italian_general_election#Electoral_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Italian_general_election#...
bluecalm 2y ago
There is diminishing returns once you have enough money to spread your message. The problems arise when you don't have a way to spread it at all. It's not always a better funded who wins anyway. The last US election are the prime example: Democrats significantly outspent Trump and lost. I am sure every American have heard both sides as well: their message and their attacks on their opponent. I think more information is better for democracy in general. Removing political ads cuts in in favor of incumbents, who in EU often control other (than the Internet) media.

by x3ro 2y ago

spacebanana7 2y ago

Winning at targeted ads is more of a skill game. You typically only need a few thousand well placed votes to win an election, and even 100k impressions at $10 CPM is pretty inexpensive.

piva00 2y ago
> You typically only need a few thousand well placed votes to win an election, and even 100k impressions at $10 CPM is pretty inexpensive. In the context of the EU this isn't true though, no political system in any EU member state relies on a tiny minority of votes from some states/provinces to completely tip an election.
- spacebanana7 2y ago
  There are still some discontinuities in the electoral systems where smallish number of votes can have a massive impact. For example the run off thresholds in French legislative elections. And some places like Italy still use FPTP in a hybrid form. However you're correct that there's nothing quite like Pennsylvania in the EU. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_French_legislative_election#Electoral_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_French_legislative_electi... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Italian_general_election#Electoral_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Italian_general_election#...

bluecalm 2y ago

There is diminishing returns once you have enough money to spread your message. The problems arise when you don't have a way to spread it at all. It's not always a better funded who wins anyway. The last US election are the prime example: Democrats significantly outspent Trump and lost. I am sure every American have heard both sides as well: their message and their attacks on their opponent. I think more information is better for democracy in general. Removing political ads cuts in in favor of incumbents, who in EU often control other (than the Internet) media.