Russians Used Facebook’s Most Sophisticated Targeting Tools To Influence Political Behavior
Russian agents used Facebook’s Custom Audiences tool to target individual voters.
The Russian effort to sway the 2016 election on behalf of Donald Trump was far more sophisticated than previously known, according to a new report by The Washington Post.
The report details how Russian agents used Facebook’s most sophisticated targeting tools to ID voters and repeatedly send them propaganda messages to influence their political behavior.
The tactic is notable because it is the same tactic the large advanced and well-funded political campaigns use to micro-target voters. As The Washington Post puts it, “The Custom Audiences tool differs because it allows advertisers to feed into Facebook’s systems a specific list of users they want to target.”
Leaving us with the obvious question – how did the Russians know how to do this and did they get American help?
“The Web sites and Facebook pages displayed ads or other messages focused on such hot-button issues as illegal immigration, African American political activism and the rising prominence of Muslims in the United States. The Russian operatives then used a Facebook “retargeting” tool, called Custom Audiences, to send specific ads and messages to voters who had visited those sites, say people familiar with the investigation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share details from an ongoing investigation,” The Washington Post reported.
The report goes on to note that in addition to using Facebook’s most advanced targeting features, the Russian agents used the social media platform’s more basic demographic and interest targeting tools.
Facebook disclosed earlier in the day that the $100,000 Russian ad buy on its platform reached at least 10 million Americans. So the revelation the Russian advertising was highly targeted and sophisticated indicates the ads likely had a profound impact on the election.
Read the full Washington Post report here.
[image via CNN screenshot]
