I'm guessing that this article is probably pretty eye-opening for most NYT readers, who likely haven't seen any Trump ads. The people targeting these ads aren't stupid and know to avoid the largely liberal base that composes the NYT readership in their targeting.
What strikes me is the influence of clickbait-style design on the pictured ad. "Doctors hate him! So do Liberal OBSTRUCTIONISTS!"
I guess it works on the older, less digitally savvy crowd that composes much of Trump's base. You can't say the Trump Committee (campaign?) marketing guys don't know their brand.
Hopefully, as Facebook and other platforms continue their transparency efforts, the phony scam ads become less prevalent and political advertising starts to appear more legitimate, similar to TV. Maybe we'll see fewer ads in this alarmist style that seems to work so well on the Trump base. It's easier to believe whatever you want when it's impossible to tell what's legitimate.
It becomes a lot harder to cry "Fake news!" when the fake news doesn't exist.
1
I no longer have any respect for Mark Zuckerman , Elon Musk, or the tech industry in general. The leaders of the industry are young, arrogant, rich guys with little smarts and no wisdom re anything but media technology. That makes them dangerous.
They want a no holds barred regulation free market to manipulate fair practices and abuse their power as giant corporations. Ethics is an issue only if they are called on it and it might damage their 'reputations'. The EU is the only democracy calling them out and fining them for this.
So far social media has done more harm than good re redefining the ' sound bite' way we communicate with each other, and opening up unlimited possibilities for propaganda - for good or ill.
1
Add to our list of Trump enablers, besides McConnell, Ryan, Huckabee Sanders, Conway: Brad Parscale. The former “marketing guy” who figured out how to tap into the psyches of the Trump supporters through Facebook in the first place. If Facebook and Parscale did not exist, we would not have the Deplorable-in-Chief we’re sickened by every day.
1
Congress needs to pass a law similar to the ones in England: no campaigning via digital media.
In addition, we should consider limiting the “silly season” to 3 months leading up to an election. We should also pass laws to require the disclosure of donors (to campaigns, PACs, and other organizations) of over $2500, as the people of Arizona are trying to send to a state-wide referendum this fall.
Citizens United has opened the door to ultimate corruption. It needs to stop. If a corporation is a person, then we should treat it like a person, limit it like a person, and treat it’s misbehavior as if it were a person. We have the death penalty for murder, manslaughter, and other crimes performed by persons--corporations should suffer the same penalties. If corporations and campaigns want to be granted the rights of people, they should bear the responsibilities and bear the same penalties for their crimes.
2
The largest group of responders (see your chart) may well be vulnerable women over 54, especially women as old as in their 70's, they are the divorced, the bereved, and the bereft, their income is failing, they cannot find jobs, their children live elsewhere, many are frail and ill, they are often poor and in debt, many are very alone, for many, their children live at a distance.
They seek solace and a solution, so they may donate what they can afford to the man with the gold hair whom they hope will solve their anguish, and fiscal worries.
Note: your largest group is women over 60.
Americans are so guillible that they will hand Howard Schultz $5 for a cup of McDonald's coffee!
Yesterday, I got an email from John Kelly stating something about a check. Yeah, right:) Just like Russian beauties want to meet me along with Christian singles in my area (I'm gay).
The days of Walter Cronkite are long gone. I personally do not believe anything unless I can confirm it myself. I read this paper the same way I would the HuffPost which is the same way I would peruse the National Enquirer.
Maybe I got this cynical dating gay men all of my life who are known to knock off a few years on their profile or post someone else's pics in order to meet up. Maybe it was that first boyfriend who I thought was a beautiful woman when I met him only to find out he was a well-built man who was a master with makeup.
But if the rest of the country still wants to pay Howard and believe everything they read, I will giggle when you find out that that Russian Beauty is some guy named Igor:)
1
Wow!
An entire $276,000
Thats less than a fraction of a percent than Hillary spent losing in 2016.
That must be embarassing
2
Trump had that jerk Kobach from Kansas head up the voter fraud commission - Funny the only two incidents found were two Republicans who voted for Trump twice!
https://www.denverpost.com/2018/01/05/kansas-election-chief-charges-vote...
3
Facebook now requires buyers of political ads on its network to be verified as United States citizens or permanent residents, to cut down on foreign interference.
Should I now be screaming for Facebook to be disbanded as ICE was last week? Please let me know who it’s okay to profile.
Does that include the Russian spending or was that a separate corporate account?
2
Trump's ads should be corrected to be truthful:
Sponsored.
MAKE RUSSIA GREAT AGAIN COMMITTEE
2
How does Facebook know if Trump ads are not Russian disinformation ads and do they care as long as they get paid?
2
So once again Facebook an American company is spreading propaganda. This company has reaped so much havoc in this country and the sheer arrogance the CEO as if he is the beginning and the end. Remember his laughter that the Russians hadn't done anything with our elections, knowing how much money they made off of the ads,etc. He laughed at the American people all the way to the bank. This arrogant CEO is assisting the Russians to destroy democracy.
Anyone who uses this app should realize that they are enablers . You can send your family pictures, announcements the old fashion way via the US mail and keep the post office solvent. We are Americans first and no one should forget that.
3
Trump has over 80 million already spent on 2020 election.
2
What ads? I cancelled my Facebook account because of all the nonsense on its news feeds. I used to delete everything every day, without even looking to see what the "spam" might be.
No Facebook addiction here.....Twitter? What's that?
When we all start acting like adults who have minds of our own, not gullible or easily distracted by sensational prevarication, the world will be a better place.
Eschew social media now! Grow up!
4
Does Facebook have a snapshot of Trump throwing up on the Constitution?
3
DJT must know he has a tremendous fight coming, why else would he spend this kind of money, when he and the SCOTUS are in the news everyday. Even with all the free news, the handlers feel the need to do this??? If he listened to the handlers on this issue, why didn't he listen to them on the Putin meeting issues??
2
Facebook is toxic waste.
6
Trump is the biggest spender on Facebook, yet the money budgeted for defending the vote has been reduced and tied up. Those Republicans that aren't making this a priority should be ashamed.
Defend the voting process since our "president" won't. Shine the light!
4
Don’t you mean he spent Russia’s own money?
2
well, Mueller and various media sources all it takes to "hack" an election is $95000 in bitcoin and 12 Russians, so anything over that would be over-spending. . maybe only $40000 in bit coin and 5 Russians this time?
Mark Zuckerberg... wake up and take responsibility.
3
Is it really he, or Russian Bitcoin?
2
But what about the servers? And we need a 12th Benghazi investigation! I love this show!
Follow the money and cross reference with Russians, Russian oligarchs connected to Trump and family, Cambridge Analytica who might have handled it and more.
4
yet another reason to ditch facebook
5
anyone with a brain would cease use of facebook, google and the like.
3
Facebook is society's cesspool.
I have suspended my account since Stanberg and Zuckerberg failed to convince me of their innocence and I'm glad I haven't returned to that well since last spring.
4
Is Trump paying for his spin/Ads with American currency, or Russian ?? Its been a heck of a Week.
2
He lies at Rallies; he lies at Press Conferences; he lies on FOX News; he lies in simple conversations; he is CHAMPION LIAR AND CHAMPION DECEIVER; I may, therefore conclude, he LIES on Facebook. Whomever believes his lies - must also be liars and deceivers.
4
Dearest Trumpty:
Perhaps you're not familiar with the phrase, "throwing money into the fire."
3
Look, if you are that weak minded that you are deciding your presidential vote based on what you see on Facebook, then you probably deserve just about anybody you get for President.
2
Trump is scared to death he will lose.
He is actively seeking to destroy our involvement with NATO by placing pawns in positions of power and having fools vote them in, not realizing the actual endgame.
If you want to know Trump's playbook, just read Oliver Stone's bizarre interview with Putin. Everything Trump is currently doing is what Putin wants. He wants NATO ended. He wants Eastern Europe back administered jointly by the US and Russia.
This is like Israel being administered by Nazi Germany and the US.
Putin's plans are right there in Stone's book. This whole thing is sickeningly obvious--that Trump is a traitor-pure and simple.
1
Which allegedly charitable foundation of Trump’s actually paid the bills for this junk?
4
It's called Fakebook for a reason
4
This is where he creates his "fake news."
1
Note - Facebook and Twitter are trivial and deplorable excuses for communication in the 21st.C..
Robert Creeley said it very well..."I'll send a picture to you...if you will send me one of you..."
"...What is that for Christian word...
I hope (you)( all) feed on dried goose turd..."
No wonder the liberal media is out to hang Zuckerburg, good lord he took money from Trump. Glad to see my tax dollars, from Planned Parenthood, going to the cause of enriching Mark.
Meanwhile, the Democrats appear to be on vacation. One hardly ever hears them on radio, or sees them on TV! Where are they?
4
Why doesn't Facebook set a limit on campaign advertising, for purposes of limiting the political slant and propaganda generated by their policy of selling unlimited advertising to the highest bidder?
There is no First Amendment right to advertise on a corporate website. Facebook is not a government-owned business.
The company justifies all kinds of user betrayals by saying their aim is "to simply provide a way for people to connect with friends and family," or alternatively, that their primary obligation is to their shareholders. But this news story's newly reported statistic is definitely the nail in the coffin of those characterizations of their business, which has been proved to be nothing more than a self-serving and mercenary conceit, demonstrating over and over again as little integrity as it can get away with.
I, for one will take down my page until my attention is no longer sold only to the highest bidder, regardless of the propaganda and untruths that bidder has been proven to generate.
3
It is inappropriate for POTUS to spend money on Facebook for his party. While I would probably ignore these posts it will influence many users. Facebook should identify who has paid for political ads so America aware what they are reading.
Democratic leaders need to radically intensify their own efforts to use social media, email and other modern media forms to offset Trump and republican ads. The republicans and Trump are outpacing everyone right now.
4
@Kathy Lavezzo
The Russians are outpacing Republicans and Trump with disinformation ads.
1
Unless the economy dramatically collapses President Trump will be reelected in 2020. The GOP could not have been given a better set of circumstances with the Democrats moving to the far left with proposals to abolish ICE and other leftist proposals. The personal wealth of many Americans has increased significantly since President Trump took office—that is if they had stock investments. Unemployment for blacks and Hispanics is much better, so those groups while they might not vote for President Trump will not go to the polls for the Democrats. If you look at the history of one-term Presidents they all lost because the economy was weak. The Democrats ran Clinton on the “we hate Trump” platform and lost. What do the Democrats have to offer—more Socialism—hardly a winning platform.
@Jonathan Not if he's impeached...
1
Wow, look at those ad stats and tell me where you think the country is headed? This is a very painful and already too lengthy speed bump for America. At 31, I’ll be around in 2050. Trump and most of his supporters will not. I know the stories I’ll be telling my grandchildren.
2
@J That would be true if you're not drafted when WW3 breaks out and you are brought back in a box.
It's a shrewd move. As we saw from the election, Facebook has become many people's go-to news outlet.
5
God that is so depressing....
2
@Andrew Do you really want to know what happened? Let's go back a few years.
It specialises in “election management strategies” and “messaging and information operations”, refined over 25 years in places like Afghanistan and Pakistan. In military circles this is known as “psyops” – psychological operations. (Mass propaganda that works by acting on people’s emotions.)
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/feb/26/robert-mercer-breitbart...
Why would Facebook lose face by accepting lie after lie from Trump, just because it pays? Social Media has lost it's credibility, as Twitter has already. We need more responsibility for holding up the truth and the evidence, otherwise we become complicit with fraud.
9
Facebook's 2017 net income was $20 billion and continues to grow. How about NOT running political ads? Is the company so rapacious it needs to make money from lies, divisiveness, and the ruin of our country?
23
Trump's name is on the account but much of the ad money comes from Russia, rather inartfully hidden as described in this recent New York Times article: https://nyti.ms/2Lqphjs
13
It takes an extraordinary amount of energy to be a professional liar which is precisely what Donald Trump has been and continues to be. It's awfully hard work to keep those lies propped up by expensive and incessant amounts of propaganda. No wonder Donald Trump loves Vladimir Putin - they are both grand manipulators, who have each betrayed their own country in the worst possible way.
I wonder what the punishment is for a sitting US president who has betrayed his country in favor of a hostile foreign enemy? What are the penalties for such an offense? And does anybody have the guts to call this by its name? Are we considered crazy if we accuse this president of treasonous behavior? I'm beginning to think that if we don't call the wrongdoing by its name we are complicit in the commission of such an offense.
7
I guess Trump has to pay for his own adds now they are trying to block the Russians...
2
If you didn't vote for Hillary I don't want to hear it. Elections matter.
7
All you fools think that Trump is an idiot. But he a genius compared to everyone that still uses Facebook. The stupidity is mind boggling.
Social Media, which is actually nothing more than AI has and will continue to destroy humanity.
6
The real “fake news” emerges. It seems like we have a Trump orchestrated digital Pravda on our hands here.
14
Can Zuckerburg stand for or against something already?
10
@J
what - and reveal he's a bad imitation of the wizard of oz?
it falls to the users to become real and stop using his [and google's] 'products'.
2
I agree.
1
This article has Facebook lauding its slow-play 'fix' to the burgeoning industry of social junk mail that, unfortunately, delivers results. After forced to do anything, Facebook's Rob Leathern promises "more transparency".
Given Trump's command performance in the Helsinki production of "Russia's Stooge", A RE-READ of Lesley Stahl's interview of proud Brad "I'm American" Parscale REVEALS:
"I asked each one of (Facebook, Google, Twitter) by email, I wanna know every, single secret button, click, technology you have. 'I wanna know everything you would tell Hillary's campaign plus some. And I want your people here to teach me how to use it.'"
Seeing that Russia was running a parallel operation to destroy Hillary, Ms Stahl should have re-directed her question: "How do you know they weren't Trojan Horses?" at Paul Manafort and his techie dupes who may have been transferring the embedded experts' knowledge.
When "I'm American" Parscale was asked about Cambridge Analytica's psychographics --- "I just don't think it works";
and when asked about Russia's Pro-Trump Tweets generated by bots --- "I don't think bots work";
and when asked about pushing buttons, about pushing prejudices --- "I don't think the math said that most people saw it as offensive".
"And I think we used (social platforms) better than anyone ever had in history."
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/facebook-embeds-russia-and-the-trump-campai...
Please define "better", Mr "I'm American" Parscale.
"Facebook now requires buyers of political ads on its network to be verified as United States citizens or permanent residents, to cut down on foreign interference. That means Facebook’s political ad archive largely provides a portrait of domestic activity..."
Yes, but as we understand about Mr. Trump's coffers, some converted rubles also come out of the wash.
6
And just this week the IRS ruled that the identities of donors of PAC money can remain secret, even the foreign ones.
38
@medianone which is ridiculous. Just who did Trump install at the IRS? another Russian agent?
9
more than likely!
5
@Mary Mnuchin, the Hollywood producer of all the Eastwood and right wing oriented films that made him millions in the Redlands.
1
"Facebook now requires buyers of political ads on its network to be verified as United States citizens or permanent residents, to cut down on foreign interference." ----
That pretty much explains everything. Now that Putin's team doesn't have unfettered access to push the Russia agenda, it's up to Trump's team to take up the slack.
18
More false narrative about Trump being in cahoots with the Russians. Zero evidence of it, the more the left pushes it, the greater the chances that Trump gets two terms. By the way, medianone, you're also entirely incorrect about Russia no longer having unfettered access to push their agenda. Nice thought, but where is the evidence of THAT? It's why it's called espionage, and it's been going on, ON EVERY SIDE, for decades. That we live in a digital age only makes espionage, and coercion that much easier...
1
@kkurtz - You seem to know a lot about this. Can you explain to me why all of Trump's associates met with the Russians and lied about it? While you're at it could you explain why Trump keeps lying about the Russians?
The best corruption money can buy!
26
What good is being a verified US national if the person is effectively a russian agent. Like, for example, Trump
22
He should be made to personally pay for those ads.
3
@Al Fisher He should have to show all the receipts.
This is why I quit Facebook over a year ago. My life has been immeasurably better. Delete your accounts!
45
God help the U.S. if $274,000 spent on social media can help swing an election.
7
I was disgusted to see a Trump 2020 ad on YouTube. I don't know where to begin..a sitting President spending (I wonder whose) money to shove those misleading, biased poll questions at us, ending with a plea for yet more money. I think there should be Congressional action limiting shilling for one's self during the first 75% of one's term, because this person has no shame when it comes to self-promotion.
45
Who cares Annette? Politics is all about self-promotion, and Trump is a genius at it. Always has been that way, and always will be that way. As for whose money is being expended to buy those ads, they are donations from conservatives. The funds are not coming from tax revenues... God knows we need that money to fund Planned Parenthood and make state sponsored life terminations easy, and convenient.
6
I care. I think a lot of people care. Plus, these ads are not just about Trump and his re-election. They are propaganda about federal governmental decisions, supreme court appointments for example. As such they are presumably paid for by by the federal government. In other words, with our tax dollars. I find this frightening.
25
No Aldous. It is illegal to use tax revenues for this purpose. Campaign donations only, no exceptions.
You guys do love to make it sound like something more nefarious is going on, however, wrong again.
The more that people "care" that Trump is doing things that have been legally done by his predecessors for centuries, only doing it better, and smarter, the more likely he is to be re-elected. It's positively paradoxical...
Much as I think Trump is either a congenital liar or a pathological liar in addition to his compromised behavior toward Putin, the editors are way off base with this report.
Of course Trump and his supporters would spend a lot of money to push their SCOTUS pick. What is the big deal in this?
A much better use of editorial time would be a campaign for full disclosure of all political contributions. The dark nature of political spending is what enables the destruction of democracy in our country.
8
What's off base about reporting the two largest spenders on political advertising on Facebook? It's a useful fact and we wouldn't know it otherwise. Should it be a secret?
1
The good news is that Facebook is screening political ads for content and cost.The bad news is that Trump is spending the most on ads in addition to all the free publicity that he gets from Fox and the advantage of "tweeting" from the Oval Office.He and his minions are working overtime to spread their lies and scams.
12
Let's get this straight. It was NOT The Con Don's money. It was Koch brothers, Russian and other International Mafia Top 1% Global Financial Elite Robber Baron/radical religion Good Old Boys' Cabal money.
31
Collaboration might just be sharing information on how to use Facebook to sway the vote in your favour. No wonder why Trump wants this investigation ended. He wants to continue what both he and Russia used to successfully spread misinformation and get elected.
2
So, is this maneuver a cover for or invitation to the Russians to work through the Trump pages or spread the pages around like it's wildly popular?
If Russians are discovered again abusing our election process, can Trump disavow it with an intended but not used double negative?
1
Just because Facebook has a verification process, it does not mean that Facebook can ferret out all groups that run political ads.
Many ads can easily be placed by third party companies, thereby skirting the accuracy of the verification process.
It happens in money laundering and can certainly happen in advertising.
It is too bad that Facebook didn't stick to its knitting.
It was meant to be a platform to connect people, families, friends to one another.
It has gone the way of most things that are a good idea. Money mattered more than the mission.
11
Were they paid for in rubles or dollars?
12
They were probably paid in bitcoin. Facebook could do a lot more. They could clearly label all paid for content as such - in big letters. They could also indicate how each piece of content was paid for and in what currency.
20
I wonder if the Trump ads use all the data analytics that were stolen from Facebook users during the campaign by Cambridge Analytica to target their ads?
15
Dear Dr. Brainwash,
My wife reads FB ad-nausium, and is no DT fan. She gets her information from there, and she hates the guy. She's addicted.
He's their biggest advertiser.
LOL, really?
Where is the hope?
2
In all fairness, President Trump and republicans continues to enjoy the support of the Russian GRU Intelligence officers.
In case no body noticed, the Oval Office has not lifted a finger to protect American voting and Democracy the last 19 months.
And Heaven Knows that the republicans and NRA will also receive Russian blessings in thei bank accounts.
18
@Steven of the Rockies
When the then FBI Director and other American intelligence officials briefed the incoming president and staff on Russian interference, Comey said in his book that they asked no follow-up questions. None. He said it seemed as if they had no interest in the subject. If they found that assistance to their benefit, why would they care unless they were patriots first and partisans last?
26
@Steven of the Rockies
You seem to ignore what is going on at Justice..... and much more I might add
Facebook divides the nation along tribal lines. It only reinforces what its subscribers want to feel right about. That America is dependent on Facebook for its opinions is a sign that Facebook is really Narcissist-book, fearing diversity and less and less able to tolerate any idea that does not already conform to it's unexamined prejudices. That Trump would find it a useful way to manipulate those eager to be manipulated is not surprising. It would be irresponsible for him to do otherwise.
5
Since when are ad buys to push a presidential court nominee confirmation an appropriate use of campaign funds? Who is the candidate here? Trump or his nominee?
If the Federal Elections Commission were doing their job they would stop this.
60
You have to elect people who believe in government if you expect the FEC to do anything.
3
$275k is a tiny total on a national scale. I guess summer really is the time of much ado about nothing.
2
So that's why everyone's talking about you!
Cats pictures is all Foolbook was ever good for.
6
@Rob Brown It helped Russia to target ads and events to foment voters, and persuade them vote for Trump and other Republicans. The Trump family has already benefitted by using the stolen office of their father to greatly enrich themselves. Pretty simplistic to say that it was only ever good for cat pictures. Fox and Sinclair and the RNC have non-stop videos running that one is immediately confronted with despite indictaed preferences. Why Democrats and other patriotic Americans haven't used it to counter the ongoing theft of money and integrity of the American people is incomprehensible. Maybe Mueller could finally serve Kushner that way, since they've bee using te secret service t prevent that from happening.
17
Duh. And there was no collusion with Russia blah blah blah. Spare me. The election was rigged in the first place and will be rigged in the second place. Trump will be re elected. It’s not like his base got smarter or their brains grew since the 2016.
10
Hopefully the left’s brains grew and now they understand the need to show up and vote Democrat.
7
Wait.... Wait !!!
I thought Facebook was a way for friends to stay in touch....
Have I been fooled ??
14
We need media literacy ads on Facebook, Twitter and comprehensive education in schools.
25
Just one more reason to stay off Facebook.
26
Nah, set up fake profiles. Set up a lot of fake profiles. All with pro Trump characteristics. Bring confusion to the enemy. And spend as much of his money as you can.
Only political stuff I see on FB is Tom Styer anti Trump screeds and planned parenthood pro abortion ads.
2
They must have received your profile from Cambridge Analytica etc. such that they consider you a hopeless case.
The problem with such targeted political ads is they can say whatever they want to their target audience, with the rest of us not even knowing what is being said and claimed. It is a profoundly unDemocratic mode of discourse.
38
Good.
1
You are aware that ads are targeted based on behavior, demographics, and hundreds of others attributes?
3
No doubt all veritably using Truth, Justice or lies, distortions, manipulation, illegally attained Mercer/files, divisive tribalism, Trump things you know.
1
Where are the rubles paying for these ads coming from?
10
Please, Lord: don't let this be ANOTHER election in which the Republicans cynically, ruthlessly, outwit and outplay the hapless and disorganized DNC and Democratic congressional leaders, to eke out a victory that shouldn't have been one.
27
@Enemy of Crime - If all you have left is pray you have already lost.
1
$274,000 is considered such a small spend on FB that they would not even assign you an account person. This type of sensationalist commentary is why the NY Times gets labeled as #fakenews. Would love to find an unbiased news outlet somewhere in this country. One neither left or right leaning. Terrible misleading story.
5
Are there other people/agencies spending on political ads on Facebook?
If “yes,” are all of those people/agencies spending LESS than Donald Trump?
If “yes,” then Donald Trump spends the “most,” regardless of the amount.
Words mean things. Learn them.
8
@Cal two words: wire services. News agencies such as AP or Reuters are great because they simply report the news without inserting any extra opinion or speculation. All of the information comes from direct observation or official statements made--accurate and unbiased.
5
@Nate H. agree. When it was on TV here in the states, I felt Al Jazeera of all places, did the best job of reporting news without bias or slant.
1
As the Helsinki TrumpPutin Carny Show demonstrated, Trump needs to run everything by Putin. Who needs Cambridge Analytica- TrumpPutin runs the campaign!
How is it "ads" matter? I very rarely glance at an online ad, block most, and click on one in perhaps six months, using my PC for hours every day. And while we are on the subject, as for "manipulation" via online ads; yesterday all day this newspaper ran an endlessly looping gif image on the top center of the front page that repeated 2-3 short sentences concerning Trump (which I purposely refused to allow to take my attention though it was a bit of a trial).
Now in what Bizzarro Journalism World must 2-3 short sentences be endlessly flashed over and over and over, except some Orwellian hell where a biased media power wishes to control minds against their will? Physician, heal thyself.
4
So many out there have no idea how finely you can target specific demographic groups through FB's advertising platform. A new age of divisiveness is upon us.
14
We now have social media campaigns for Supreme Court Justices? Run by the President of The United States of America? If anyone wondered, decorum is out the window. We have a hayseed in charge.
58
I doubt at this point that anyone was still wondering.
7
@MikeJ
After his performance in Helsinki it occurred to me that he has a physical communication disorder that he cannot control, one that he has learned to 'manage'. Some type of Tourette's Syndrome. He has attorneys for his business dealings. He has no control mechanism for normal political communication. He has an aversion to being recorded and tries to minimize that, according to a former WH stenographer in a NYT opinion piece in the NYT a day ago. He endlessly revises his words until they get the preferred effect.
Well, that's my hypothesis. Organic Brain Disorder.
"Facebook now requires buyers of political ads on its network to be verified as United States citizens or permanent residents"
Well, except that the Trump administration just declared that secretive groups don't have to reveal their donors
https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2018/07/17/us/politics/ap-us-irs-donor-...
74
@Lynn, Gee I wonder how that is done? Checking the box that says "are you a US citizen or permanent resident? CHECK! I hardly think Facebook is running names through the national security database.
Here's a question: did Russia contribute any of the funding for those ads? Is it rude to suggest that Russia may be helping Trump with social media, especially in ways that implicate Trump and not Russia?
I never thought I'd see a day where such questions regarding a "conservative" president working hand in hand with a hostile foreign nation would be legitimate, but they are more than legitimate now, they are necessary.
Time to see those those tax returns.
88
Please everyone, stop supporting Facebook. They have donated to Nunes. It seems to indicate that they support traitors, given the support of Cambridge Analytica and Trump. Keep in touch with friends and family the old fashioned way. Send a message to Zuckerberg. He is influencing the electorate, and has not been elected to do so. Their own interest is to get rid of any and all regulations, so we need to open our eyes.
118
That's fine. Let him spend as many rubles as he wishes.
The factor that is going to make the most amount of difference in the midterms is a ground game. (door knocking)
Democrats have already shown (with spectacular results) how a down to earth message, with the candidate actually showing up to back it up, has made the difference in primaries and special elections.
Besides, the more the President speaks or tweets, the more it negates any advantage by ads.
20
Yesterday's C-Span aired the Senate Committee's interrogating the CEOs of Facebook, Google, and Twitter responsible for overseeing this very matter. It was appalling how they dodged answering the questions with the claim that they would have to research and get back to the Committee their results.
The best way to neutralize these assaults is for Americans to develop even more acutely their critical thinking skills.
32
@M Kirton
This new information also seems to fly directly in the faces of the GOP on that committee who claimed Facebook censors conservative messaging.
7
Seriously, Facebook? It's a joke, right? When you reduce yourself to the level of communicating on Facebook, and actually believing things that show up on your Facebook account, you really, truly deserve everything that happens afterward. There is, after all, a price to pay for stupidity.
95
The problem is uneducated people have the same vote. It’s in the best interest of our society to establish a media literacy curriculum.
18
Unfortunately in so much of this everyone else has to pay the price too.
2
Unfortunately, the rest of us get what THEY deserve.
3
Yet another good reason to disconnect from Facebook.
124
Can we really be sure the ads were placed by Trump—or more likely Vladimir Putin, the Russian puppet master of Illegitimate 45? Who can tell the difference anymore. Facebook=Russian Progaganda Machine.
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I don't have a Facebook account. Thankfully I don't have to view this nonsense.
20
At this point, anything posted by Trump on Facebook, or any other media outlet, must be considered Russian inspired disinformation until the Mueller probe is completed.
162
Facebook now requires political advertisers to be US citizens after the onslaught of Russian money for advertising in 2016. Am I the only one who wonders where the money to the Trump PAC is coming from?
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@Louise Sullivan — There are at least two of us. It doesn't spend its own money.
With the help of Putin, yes?
13
Facebook needs to raise the cost of its ads.
3
@culprit That's not the answer, the Russians have endless funds stolen from the workers. No matter the price they will pay.
3
It did work for the Russians and DJT in 2016, not sure it will be as effective for DJT for 2020 or the midterms.
Without Facebook we would not be where we are today. They are trying to convince us hard that they are working on their Fake News problem. It seems they are not very aggressive in their approach,
The reason may well be that they are scared to alienate 50% of the people who pay for ads. I personally would boo Zuckerberg and Sandberg off every stage.
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@F R Zuckerberg and Murdoch should be locked up, along with the Trump criminal family, and half the GOP.
2
@F R, not only alienating those who pay for the ads but the followers who are glued to their FB page like their life depended upon it. FB could go under and good riddance.
In the world of business you don't get a lot of sales without a lot of advertising.
So this article makes a lot of sense and this way Trump's team gets to advertise anything using their point of view to get the sales.
Whether it's a true point of view or not can only be determined by challenging it.
2
Interesting. What amounts are spent on radio, TV, magazine and newspapers ads? Why focus on just one aspect? Where are the Democrats spending their anti-Trump dollars?
Without some context, the information isn't really useful.
8
@George Orwell, Facebook generates more chatter and engagement with it's comment section and in non-political advertising I placed for an event, it was cheaper and more effective than the local newspaper and alternative paper. (I myself pay more attention to edited publications, but entities may go under going after the few customers such as me--I'm not a millenial). FOX tv has been a great medium for the geriatric crowd and I suspect radio works on the audiences with long commutes or who don't have much spare time to read or sit in front of a tv.
4
It seems like Facebook and Twitter and other platforms are relatively new paradigms for advertising. They allow advertisers to reach huge numbers of people with little to no oversight.
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@Javaforce - And they knew. Money buys silence. Per Wired & Newsweek: "In 2015 Kushner hired Brad Parscale, a Texas-based digital geek who previously had done work for the Trump Organization for $91 million to target states with paid ads, social media messages, and other cyber tools. The campaign was ... carried on in a vast scale, running as many as 50,000 Facebook ads a day to establish which ones resonated best with voters. It also paid for 'dark posts' that were publicly invisible and showed up in a voter's news feed." Interestingly Russia's GRU org posing as "Guccifer" downloaded voter rolls in key states, then similarly sent out millions of bots tailored precisely to individual voters using email, Facebook, Twitter, and political advertising. How would they know who to target so precisely? Surely Trump and our Republican leaders would be concerned and make cyber attacks by a foreign govt their highest priority? Silence again.
(1) http://www.newsweek.com/trump-brad-parscale-russia-digital-guru-637322
(2) GOP hired data company leaked 198 million American's personal data
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gop-hired-data-company-leaked-145100897.html
2
Facebook has to make money via advertisements, understood. But political advertising goes against the original purpose of Facebook being an open forum to freely share content, thoughts, ideas, etc. I'm not on Facebook and never will be due to the political ads, fake news and bad privacy/security controls. I've been on Linkd in, but am getting ready to leave due to the infusion lately of pro-Trump commenters that I believe are bots and/or paid commenters - Linkd in is meant for business collaboration - there should be zero political content there. These social media sites need to rethink their approach, be more restrictive about who can join and figure out a way to remove inappropriate content. Realize it is easier said than done, but there are some very smart people at these social media companies - they should be able to figure something out.
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The things posted on Facebook are totally unvetted.
Anybody can post whatever nonsense they wish.
Why would anyone believe what is posted on a medium like that?
(No, I am not now, and never have been a Facebook subscriber. It is a total waste of time.)
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But a lot of other people do use it. And they get influenced by it. And that influence ends up deeply affecting your life. Just because you have no use for it personally does not mean that that you can ignore it as trivial. Please wake up.
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@Joe From Boston
Years ago I had a "Farcebook" account to see pictures of family & grandchildren". But killed my account 2 years ago. Have no use for any social media platforms. Just email to people I know!
3
Joe I don't believe you're from Boston.
Goebbels would be proud. Facebook and social media propaganda is the straw that will break the camel's back of western liberal democracies. Too many people are so casually engaged in the body politic they are easy pickings for the polemecists, liars, and traitors writing and directing advertising programs for the GOP.
Unless and until we pass a constitutional amendment prescribing public financing of elections, we are doomed to live in a kleptocracy. This has gone on long enough. We need a second American revolution to take back our democracy from the oligarchs - Democrat as well as Republican.
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@Barbyr Exactly
@Barbyr......Exactly, Scalia declared in Citizens United; Corporations are people, money is speech/speech is money......therefore, he who has the most money can buy the most speech. So much for “free speech”.
Trump and the Russians are focused on keeping him in power. This is a travesty. Fortunatly in my facebook stream I have seen no ads.
Working in retail again these days, there are a lot of uninformed, impressionable, stupid people in this world of all incomes. It is mind boggling. I now understand how Trump got elected. These people do not read the NYT, they are affected by things like Trump's facebook ads that they see briefly.
In my currenty job, I just have to be kind, patient and keep my opinions to myself while I respond to questions about wine in as simple a form as I can come up with. These people are not sinister they are just completely naive.
I think Trump, the Russians realize that there are a majority that are completely impressionable by these fleeting things, they are the same people who believe that reality shows are "real".
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Right....because all the smart people are liberal. Uh huh.
1
Facebook works! The Russians have proved its propaganda value many times over.
We (virtually all of us) are not trained in how to carefully filter propaganda. People see something that looks official and confirms their biases, they believe it, accept it and integrate it into their thoughts.
As for advertising, Facebook ads should be labeled as to who is paying for them and should contain a link to directly take you to further information about the group or candidate behind an ad. If you see something is paid for by a group which you would never support, you can be forewarned and forearmed.
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For those who lack critical thinking skills and/or use FB as their primary source of information without reading other information sources widely, these political ads work. For the more intelligent and more widely read population, they don't.
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@Mossy
They obviously work, Russians and Facebook got the Man Elected...
@Mossy I disagree. First off, people have a limited amount of time, or limit themselves, to find wider sources of information. They are also being taught by Trump and many others not to trust major media. Intelligent and careful people can be fooled, too. The first rule should be to simply disregard anything and everything that happens to pop-up on Facebook as a meme unless you know it to be confirmed elsewhere. "Critical thinking skills" are something that have to be developed over time and with care. Many, if not most, graduates of 4 yr. degree programs lack a depth of knowledge our own national history. It didn't seem important at the time courses were offered.