I'm really not sure where to put this as it ties in with a number of current threads so I thought I'd give it one of its own.
This is a story from The Canary which highlights the use by the tories in the 2015 election campaign of targeted adverts on Facebook. We know that the Trump election team used these techniques and that Brexit campaigners probably did but are we aware that they have been used in General Elections?
The objection the Canary is primarily interested in is the corruption angle; that Facebook ads were targeted specifically at voters in marginal consituencies but the costs were attributed to the national campaign rather than the local campaigns in those constituencies.
The other issue is that with such specifically targeted advertising we don't know what people are being told. We don't even know who is getting the adverts. This is very, very worrying in my opinion. It offers no opportunities for debate and rebuttal of wrong claims but plenty of opportunity for misleading voters.
What do people think?
