Facebooks 2016 Election Team Gave Advertisers A Blueprint To A Divided US

[Madam45for2923]

Source: Buzzfeed

The company offered advertisers a breakdown of the US electorate's interests, religions, races, and dislikes during a fraught election season compromised by bad actors.


During the 2016 election season, Facebook provided political advertisers with a targetable breakdown of a fractured United States, which could’ve been used as a blueprint for exploiting the country’s divisions.

According to a political advertising sales pitch obtained by BuzzFeed News, Facebook carved the US electorate into 14 segments — from left-leaning "youthful urbanites" to a pro-NRA, pro–Tea Party group it bizarrely labeled as "the great outdoors." It detailed their demographic information — including religion and race in some cases — and offered them to political advertisers via Facebook’s sales teams. For advertisers using Facebook’s self-serve platform, the segments could be reached by purchasing larger bundles ranging from “very liberal” to “very conservative.”

The "very liberal" bundle included an estimated audience of 28.6 million people broken down into three groups — “youthful urbanites,” “transitionals,” and “politically engaged city dwellers.” The "very conservative" bundle included an estimated audience of 22.8 million people broken down into three groups — “post grad nest builders," “family values,” and “the great outdoors.”

“This type of approach is almost exclusively designed for nonpolitical professional people who want to mix it up.”
“We typically help marketers across all verticals understand audiences this way, and we briefly used this framework to help inform how a small number of marketers built their campaigns,” a Facebook spokesperson told BuzzFeed News, adding the pitch had been removed as part of a "regular refresh." Said the spokesperson, “these segments are no longer available.”

Read more: https://www.buzzfeed.com/alexkantrowitz/facebooks-2016-election-team-gave-advertisers-a-blueprint?utm_term=.okJ2rP7Vy#.xiLa0x9Vz

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[bucolic_frolic]

1. What we're getting from all this balance, fairness, target marketing

is evisceration of sound judgment by voters and pulverizing of voting blocs

There is so much overload from the media people are confused and stupefied

[Crash2Parties]

2. "Advertisers" equals Russia, which equals the Republican Party

[panfluteman]

3. What Is This But Giving Aid and Comfort to the Enemy???

It's surprising how easily business as usual and the profit motive can lead a corporation like Facebook over the borderline into seditious territory. This is de facto treason!!!

[msongs]

4. which of these activities is illegal or law breaking? nt

[politicaljunkie41910]

5. I didn't find myself fitting within any of those blocks. Maybe Facebook is just wrong this time.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

6. I find this disgusting.

Essentially, Facebook is providing political parties with free campaign data just to sell them targeted space.

In addition, if I recall correctly, the ads sold did not have info stating that they were paid political ads or info on who paid for them.

How the hell do they collect this much exacting data on its users? Do people actually divulge this much info on themselves when they sign up, or is it collected based on usage info?

Disclaimer: I don't use Facebook.

[FakeNoose]

7. Wow I don't fit any of these slots

Wrong call on the Baby Boomers - I'm one myself and most of the BB I know are all liberal/progressive.

I guess I'm closest to the "Politically Engaged Adults" category. But I don't go on Facebook for this very reason: If I agree to fit into somebody's category then I am also agreeing to be a target for their advertisers. Not a good enough trade-off, if you ask me.