By Steven Caplan
Think back to the last time you scrolled through your social media feed and encountered a political ad that perfectly aligned with your views – or perhaps one that outraged you. Could you tell if it was from a legitimate campaign, a shadowy political action committee or even a foreign entity? Could you discern who paid for the ad? Chances are you couldn’t.
While television and radio political ads have been subject to strict disclosure requirements for decades, their online counterparts exist in a regulatory vacuum. Social media giants like Facebook, X – formerly Twitter – and Instagram have become central battlegrounds for political campaigns. Yet they operate without the transparency mandated for traditional broadcast media. This allows advertisers to use sophisticated microtargeting to tailor messages to voters, often exploiting detailed personal data.
Welcome to the unregulated Wild West of online political advertising, where transparency is scarce and accountability is lacking. With the 2024 U.S. presidential election in full swing, this digital frontier poses an unprecedented threat to the integrity of American democracy.
The good old days
The McCain-Feingold Act became law over two decades ago. The law, officially known as the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, was designed to curb the influence of money in politics and increase transparency in campaign financing. The landmark legislation, championed by Senators John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), includes the regulation of issue advocacy ads on television and radio.
The McCain-Feingold Act addressed the need for disclaimers and the “Stand by Your Ad” provision, which required candidates to personally endorse their messages in TV and radio ads. Such regulations have proved effective in maintaining a level of accountability and transparency in traditional media.
The media landscape has undergone a dramatic transformation since the bill’s passage, however. As a communications scholar who studies online advertising, I see the lack of similar regulatory measures governing online political advertisements as a glaring absence. This vacuum leaves platforms responsible for providing transparency.
At the same time, Federal Election Commission rules governing disclosure on digital political ads remain murky at best. The lack of clarity makes tracking and analyzing digital political ads a daunting task for researchers, journalists and concerned citizens.
Ad transparency studies
A recent study conducted by open internet advocacy organization Mozilla and Finnish internet research firm Check First reveals significant deficiencies in the ad transparency tools provided by major tech platforms. Ad transparency tools are collections and analysis of ads that the social media companies make publicly available. Researchers, policymakers and advocacy groups use the tools to understand ads and their effects. The deficiencies raise concerns about the potential for manipulation and deception in the lead-up to the presidential election.
The study examined the ad transparency tools of 11 major tech platforms, including X, Apple’s App Store, Google, Meta, TikTok and LinkedIn. The study found that these tools often provide incomplete data, have broken search functions and are difficult to use effectively. Among the tech giants the study evaluated, X emerged as the worst performer, with a dismal record of providing meaningful data for watchdogs and users alike.
Notably, the study focused on the efforts of these platforms to comply with the European Union’s Digital Services Act, which mandates a certain level of ad transparency. The United States, however, has no comparable requirements, leaving voters vulnerable to potential manipulation and disinformation campaigns.
Recent academic research offers some insights into the potential effectiveness of political ad labeling. One study tested various transparency information disclosures based on enacted regulations, including the EU’s Digital Services Act, and proposed regulations, including the U.S. Honest Ads Act.
The Digital Services Act is a broad set of regulations that requires online platforms to provide real-time information about which posts are ads and who produced and financed them. The U.S. bill aims to require platforms to maintain publicly accessible records of any political ads purchased by a person or group who spends more than $500 on ads in a calendar year. It also seeks to ensure that foreign entities are not purchasing political ads to influence U.S. elections.
The researchers found that transparency measures based on these regulations were most effective in increasing users’ ability to recognize and understand persuasion attempts in advertising. However, the academic study also highlighted significant challenges in implementing ad labeling. Only 30% of participants remembered noticing the transparency information, underscoring the difficulty of making such measures effective in the fast-paced world of social media.
The stakes
The importance of ad transparency was spotlighted by a recent report from AI Forensics, a European nonprofit that investigates influential and opaque algorithms. The report, titled “No Embargo in Sight: Meta Lets Pro-Russia Propaganda Ads Flood the EU,” revealed that a massive network of pro-Russian propaganda targeted voters in France and Germany. It reached 38 million user accounts in just six months. Meta failed to identify and label the vast majority of these ads as political in a timely manner, allowing the disinformation to spread rapidly.
Experts are increasingly concerned about the potential for similar disinformation campaigns to target American voters. With wars raging in multiple global hot spots and platforms like X and Facebook struggling to monitor and report on political ads effectively, the risks of electoral interference and voter manipulation are significant.
Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via Getty Images
Despite the Honest Ads Act’s high-profile bipartisan sponsors and the potential effectiveness suggested by academic research, most analysts predict that partisan gridlock and tech industry lobbying will keep the legislation from being passed before the November 2024 election. This lack of legislative action leaves the U.S. without robust ad transparency tools, making it difficult for the public to identify the sources behind political ads on digital platforms.
Advocates have called on tech platforms to prioritize the development of more robust and user-friendly ad transparency tools ahead of the election. They argue that without meaningful reforms, the integrity of the democratic process is at risk, leaving voters vulnerable to manipulation and deception.
Steven Caplan is Adjunct Instructor of Communications and Marketing at USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.
The Conversation arose out of deep-seated concerns for the fading quality of our public discourse and recognition of the vital role that academic experts could play in the public arena. Information has always been essential to democracy. It’s a societal good, like clean water. But many now find it difficult to put their trust in the media and experts who have spent years researching a topic. Instead, they listen to those who have the loudest voices. Those uninformed views are amplified by social media networks that reward those who spark outrage instead of insight or thoughtful discussion. The Conversation seeks to be part of the solution to this problem, to raise up the voices of true experts and to make their knowledge available to everyone. The Conversation publishes nightly at 9 p.m. on FlaglerLive.
Joe D says
Social media and the internet have become the “Wild Wild West” of the modern world….almost ANYTHING GOES.
It’s ONE advantage is it’s FREE, you don’t have to be “RICH” to post your opinion(s) online (however “out there” they may seem to others).
Maybe a “sub” advantage is that ANYONE can have a WIDE, even INTERNATIONAL audience, for whatever you have to say.
However “Free Speech” doesn’t mean you should be able to say ANYTHING you want about ANYONE you want, and feel you can get away with it! The fact that most people make up an “anonymous” screen name, seems to make people feel they can freely ATTACK someone or someone’s opinion without consequences. The laws about SLANDER ( telling lies verbally) or Libel ( writing lies in media or documents), still TECHNICALLY apply, but they are much more difficult to enforce.
I very seldom participate in ANY social media (Flaglerlive is one of the few exceptions, since I am new to the area, and the topics and opinions helped get a sense of what my NEW town was like, how it was run, what the local issues were, what was a priority, and what was NEW). The other social media sites are abysmal! They have the comment at the top, that posters need to follow “Community” standards (whatever that actually means), but looking at the foul language used, and the subtle (and not so subtle) bullying that goes (relatively) unchecked, I’m generally APPALLED!
I find myself logging out of those type of social media sites, because I just can’t stand how people (LOTS of PEOPLE), have no CIVILITY in their posts. I HAVE appreciated the moderator(s) of Flaglerlive, for either clarification or critiquing outright LIES or outright personal ATTACKS. Not sure what goes on behind the scenes, but the postings don’t seem to be allowed to degenerate to PERSONAL attacks, without being addressed.
I’ve had enough experience with people to know when they are just spouting off to hear themselves talk…but less experienced or younger participants, might not have the critical thinking skills to ask, “Where are they getting this OUTRAGEOUS information? Where is the PROOF of what they are saying?”
Too many people read an “OPINION,” take it as fact without actually checking, and forwarding the misinformation to hundreds of millions of people, within seconds!
Sherry says
Thank you Joe D! You are most certainly right on!
JimboXYZ says
Pretty much the internet is a relative threat to democracy. Short of becoming Amish, anytime you google search, every search engine & corporation seizes that opportunity to be your little helper and it doesn’t take long for he spam to hit your email inbox. And with AI & bots, they can invade your home & life at any moment of the day. I can’t be the only one getting swamped with 10’s & 100’s of emails every day & at all hours of the day. I got to bed & sleep for 6-8 hours, I wake up and like a 1st cup of coffee to start the day, the process of removing spam is my routine. Some you opt out of a unsubcribes, that process is a time bandit. Doesn’t matter if it’s a necessity or merely a hobby. They’re sending you emails. And after the AM routine. Check your emails again hours later, there’s 10’s & 100’s more spam emails & it’s just overload & burden. Marketing works for sales & politics. Hammer someone enough with those messages & they are mentally overloaded. Every webpage has that advertisement too. That bright shiny, new object. Imagine your TV being able to broadcast the ads 24/7. torturing & waterboarding you with their products to get the next sale. The internet has it’s benefits, it has far more abuses. What can you do though, they’ve made internet the defacto way to pay your bills even. I don’t put social media on a single smartphone, I already know they’ll send notifications & clutter the space on my phone. Do a fresh install on that smartphone, amazing how much battery life it has. And the way the world works, it’s faster cpu, more memory, bigger battery as the data solution. Android & Apple, evil empires that torture & waterboard with the endless upgrade(s). Try living without them though. One can still do it, but it’s going to be a more difficult life. Google Maps, in November that history is going to start being stored on your smartphone. They’re still going to data mine that data, but the big brother watching each & everyone of us is requiring the data plan. the smartphone only came about because the Bush era microchipping of every human being in America was met with the same resistance as Covid vaccinations. I wouldn’t put it past the healthcare industry to work with technology for microchipping humans by vaccination. The execs just need to sit in a boardroom & make the decision, work out the details of how they get paid & draft a EULA for them to have permission to mine your data. hat much is what is in store for humanity, the endless waterboarding & torture of data mining. And the Government is more than onboard with it, they get access to that data on a whim anymore. solving crimes, mismanaging housing, & every other recipient program imaginable to the point of ad nauseam.
Jim says
JimboXYZ, you must do a lot of something on the internet to be getting “10’s or 100’s of spam emails a day”. I wonder what you might be doing, old man???? Anyway, thanks for sharing your insights on the internet and all that’s wrong with it. I’d suggest you just turn off your computer for a few years and that’ll make it better for everyone….
Laurel says
Jimboxyz: It depends on what you use. Google and Amazon are some of worst culprits, but as you say, hard to get around with the ease, and addictiveness of Alexa, always there ready with an answer, and delivering products to your door the next day. Google keeps sneaking in apps on my Android that I never asked for. Technically, you can erase your Google history, but the damage is already done. “Do No Harm,” right? I know that using these companies is compromising our privacy, but it’s almost impossible to get around it. Heck, our credit cards have known us for ages.
Personally, I use Mozilla Firefox and DuckDuckGo, and have been using them for well over a decade. I rarely get ads, so I don’t know how everyone else is being effected. We never hit clickbait, and have no interest in social media. Flaglerlive is about as close as I get too, but I trust them though experience. I’m grateful they are available. I don’t care for Facebook, so the only time I go there is if the company I’m looking for doesn’t have a website. Don’t care for Instagram or X, either. Waste of time. If you use Outlook Mail, you won’t get any garbage, not that I like Microsoft. I don’t.
There are some pretty good ad blockers out there too, however certain websites want you to close them. Usually, I skip those sites. The only junk mail I get is from services I have used, so I do unsubscribe when I am not interested.
It is interesting that open source websites often seem the best to use. They are also often free, so I do lean towards those. They do police themselves really well.
YouTube can be a real issue for confirmation bias. Holy beans, if you click one tasteless something or another, you will get plenty of tasteless suggestions. Same with politics. There is a whole lot of good stuff out there too, so we try to stick to that stuff.
The younger generations have been successfully groomed to fully accept this invasion, to the point that it frightens me, but not them. I will have nothing to do with Tik Tok. So we wonder, at what point are these companies really, truly making our lives easier, or just accumulating information for their benefit while leading us in the direction they want? It’s a very sticky future.
Dennis C Rathsam says
Kamala just got caught this very thing! AMAZING!
Laurel says
…only God knows…
Laurel says
The worst I have it is on my phone. So many texts asking for money for political campaigns, all from different numbers. I block them all, and report as spam, for both parties, but they keep on coming. Also, I’ve got to get a spam blocker for calls. I don’t answer my phone if I don’t recognize the number, and if they don’t leave a message, they, too, are blocked and reported. You should see all the circles with the 45 degree slash in the spam category! I imagine some dark web little idiots sell our numbers, the calls come in, then they stop, the number is sold again, and the calls start again. All very cyclical.
My Ooma gets no spam whatsoever!
Pretty much no problem with the computer.