Forbes: Thousands Of Misleading Facebook Ads Help Conservatives To 'Crushing' UK Election Victory

[crazytown]

Thousands Of Misleading Facebook Ads Help Conservatives To ‘Crushing’ UK Election Victory

The Conservatives' social media election strategy involved subjecting hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of voters to false ad after false ad.

At the end of October, Twitter announced that it was banning political advertisements. The announcement came after its bigger rival Facebook ruled out the possibility of banning political ads on its own social network. But not only did Facebook refuse to ban political ads, but it also refused to subject such ads to fact-checking, something which critics said was necessary in view of the often deceptive nature of posts from political sources.

(snip) According to research from fact-checking non-profit First Draft, 88% of the Facebook ads the Conservatives posted in the first four days of December were deemed misleading by Full Fact, one of the UK’s biggest fact-checking organisations. By contrast, First Draft said that none of the Facebook ads posted by Labour over the same four-day period contained misleading claims.

In particular, First Draft noted that 5,000 of the 6,749 ads paid for by the Conservatives contained references to the construction of 40 new hospitals. This figure was disputed by Full Fact, given that it not been costed and given that the Conservatives' spending plans for the next Parliament had allocated funding only for six hospitals to be upgraded by 2025.

Not only that, but false claims about the cost of Labour's spending plans to the average tax payer made an appearance in more than 4,000 Facebook ads paid for by the Conservatives, while 500 promoted the widely refuted claim that the Tories will create jobs for 50,000 more nurses, even though the promise actually includes simply retaining 18,500 nurses already on the job.

In other words, the Conservatives' social media election strategy involved subjecting hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of voters to false ad after false ad. Perhaps voters were swayed more by the desire to progress with Brexit when casting their votes, but the simple fact that the Conservatives paid for these 'post-truth' ads indicates that the party believed they would have a tangible effect. If not, then why pay for them?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/simonchandler/2019/12/14/thousands-of-misleading-facebook-ads-help-conservatives-to-crushing-uk-election-victory/#d5172933825f

[dalton99a]

1. Kick

[Raster]

2. Farcebook* and Zuckerfuck* strike again!

[mr_lebowski]

3. That's pretty GD depressing to ponder ...

Because it kinda inevitably leads to the conclusion that ... our side is probably going to have to engage in the same bullshit if we want to win.

Because people in general (present company of course excepted ) are too bloody daft and/or intellectually lazy to care about what's actually the truth ... or about being good, informed citizens of a Democracy.

[NoMoreRepugs]

4. Zuckerberg has a face begging to be punched.

[smirkymonkey]

5. +1000

With a brick.

[Squinch]

6. Cue the VERY vocal DU posters who insist that there is nothing wrong with Facebook.

"I still use it and it's all just fine because I make sure I don't pay them any money."

OR "How else will I keep in touch with my grandchildren??"

OR "All those people who say we should quit Facebook are just being holier than thou!"

.....

Using facebook is one of the most efficient ways to hand our Democracy to those whose dearest wish is to ruin our Democracy. It is imbecilic.

[crazytown]

7. Each person on Facebook helps tune the data points

that enable more effective targeting of lies. If you are on Facebook, you are an enabler, period.

[Squinch]

8. Yep. Clearly.

[ThoughtCriminal]

9. A Preview for the U.S. Election in 2020

I bet they can beat that 88% here.

[texasfiddler]

10. I say fight fire with fire

Democrats really don’t have to stretch the truth to send out damning Facebook claims themselves tailor made for the people and regions targeted. Trump is not a normal candidate and unfortunately we can’t use civil tactics. Publicly our candidates can go high when they go low, but the information battles need to be fought in a ruthless manner or we are screwed. We have already lost middle and rural America because of the right wing radio monopoly. Try to go toe to toe in the information battles and register voters.

[crazytown]

11. Rapid response is the key IMO.

Get a counter narrative ad up and trending within 60 minutes.

[CrispyQ]

12. The dems need a marketing department. Stat.

Ignoring hate radio is just colossally stupid. Too bad our billionaire candidates don't buy up some radio stations in the heartland, pay for some top notch writing talent, and challenge the message of hate and fear that blankets rural America. Run them at a loss if you have to. It would be money better spent than their presidential campaigns, IMO.

[Kaiserguy]

14. I'm with you

we have let the cancer that is right-wing talk radio go unchallenged for to long. Same with Facebook we need a fast response to there lies.

[ArcticFox]

17. I hate to say it, but I think there's only one thing that can work

We don't have the mainstream media on our side.

We can't take full advantage of Facebook without buying lying targeted advertisements.

Sinclair has taken over the airwaves all across the midwest.

I think we all need to get off our butts and go outside and talk to people. Pick up our phones and talk to folks.

Really, what else do good people have?

[BuffaloJackalope]

13. Paid for in Rubles, no doubt

[CaptainTruth]

15. This is what I fear most. When politics becomes "He who lies the most wins."

How in the hell are we honest Democrats supposed to compete with that in today's social media landscape?

I feel like the Trump vs Clinton 2016 election was totally a case of "he who lies the most wins," not just because of the lies Trump told, but also because of the decades of lies the Right told about the Clintons.

If that becomes the norm in our politics I believe we're utterly screwed.

[crickets]

16. THIS is how the UK election is a warning re 2020 US election.

None of the other ideological argument is actually relevant. The cancerous Facebook problem is the takeaway.

[abqtommy]

18. Yup. As I've long maintained, the ability to influence voters is the ability to change votes.

[DallasNE]

19. Facebook Has Transformed

Into an anti-social network peddling lies for a fee. Soon I would think serious advertiser woul have 2nd thoughts about having a site like Facebook sullying up their good name and take their business elsewhere.

[crazytown]

20. ...

[JCMach1]

21. Everyone understands how heavily Trump has already beeen

Targeting FB with ads, right?

Ugggg

[VOX]

22. Facebook is the right-wing's weapon of choice for maximum disinformation.

Every thinking person should delete their Facebook account.