Facebook general counsel Colin Stretch on Tuesday offered broad details about the way Russian ads were targeted on the platform, something journalists and citizen groups have been agitating for.
Stretch said only a quarter of the ads were specifically geotargeted, however.
“The advertising targeting that was used, in the main, was a combination of very broad geographic targeting,” he told the Senate Judiciary Committee. “Most of the ads, about 75 percent of we have given you, was targeted to the United States as a whole. And a quarter of the ads were targeted at a more granular level to states. And they were targeted to interest groups. So we have various what we call like-based or interest-based targeting that was apparently intended to attract people who were following the causes you’ve identified.”
about 75 percent of we have given you, was targeted to the United States as a whole. And a quarter of the ads were targeted at a more granular level to states. And they were targeted to interest groups.
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I don’t think this is an accurate summary of what was said. He was clearly speaking in reference to geographic targeting. You can be sure that all of the ads were well targeted in other ways. Only 25% of the ads were targeted specifically on a geographic basis.
I’m so relieved…
In other words, the ad were effectively preaching to the choir…
Interest-group targeting generally also has a geographic component if you know anything about the interest group.