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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/jul/24/help-us-monitor-political-advertising-in-australia
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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Help us monitor political advertising in Australia | Help us monitor political advertising in Australia |
| (2 months later) | |
| During the byelections and upcoming federal election campaign you may be targeted with political advertising such as flyers or ads on social media like Facebook or Instagram. | During the byelections and upcoming federal election campaign you may be targeted with political advertising such as flyers or ads on social media like Facebook or Instagram. |
| Politicians and other interest groups are using Facebook to tailor political advertising to specific groups, based on people’s interests – using information from Facebook such as interest in “community”, “prayer”, “same-sex marriage”, or your age and location. | Politicians and other interest groups are using Facebook to tailor political advertising to specific groups, based on people’s interests – using information from Facebook such as interest in “community”, “prayer”, “same-sex marriage”, or your age and location. |
| And, if these ads don’t appear in your feed, it is almost impossible to know about them. This makes it very difficult to fact-check their content, or determine if they breach any laws around disclosure, as we saw during the the same-sex marriage survey. | And, if these ads don’t appear in your feed, it is almost impossible to know about them. This makes it very difficult to fact-check their content, or determine if they breach any laws around disclosure, as we saw during the the same-sex marriage survey. |
| We’ve also seen anonymous flyers, posters and websites used during the marriage equality postal survey, despite new laws aimed at curtailing unauthorised material. | We’ve also seen anonymous flyers, posters and websites used during the marriage equality postal survey, despite new laws aimed at curtailing unauthorised material. |
| You can help make political advertising more transparent by documenting this material in a number of different ways. | You can help make political advertising more transparent by documenting this material in a number of different ways. |
| Submit Facebook ads via ProPublica’s browser plugin | Submit Facebook ads via ProPublica’s browser plugin |
| ProPublica has developed a browser plugin for Chrome and Firefox that automatically collects ads when you are on Facebook and allows you to classify the ads collected as “political” or “not political”. | ProPublica has developed a browser plugin for Chrome and Firefox that automatically collects ads when you are on Facebook and allows you to classify the ads collected as “political” or “not political”. |
| The political ads are sent to ProPublica’s database, along with the ad-targeting information. The ad-targeting information categories are usually things such as an age bracket, gender, a general geographic location and interest in a topic. You can see the information Facebook is using to show you ads by looking at the “adverts” menu in the Facebook settings. | The political ads are sent to ProPublica’s database, along with the ad-targeting information. The ad-targeting information categories are usually things such as an age bracket, gender, a general geographic location and interest in a topic. You can see the information Facebook is using to show you ads by looking at the “adverts” menu in the Facebook settings. |
| No other information is sent to the database. We are not recording your name, date of birth or any other specifics – just the categories that Facebook provides under the “Why am I seeing this ad?” information panel. | No other information is sent to the database. We are not recording your name, date of birth or any other specifics – just the categories that Facebook provides under the “Why am I seeing this ad?” information panel. |
| The targeting information is important as it gives us an insight into the demographics or areas political campaigns are interested in targeting. | The targeting information is important as it gives us an insight into the demographics or areas political campaigns are interested in targeting. |
| If you are not comfortable with sharing this information, we suggest you do not install the browser plugin. | If you are not comfortable with sharing this information, we suggest you do not install the browser plugin. |
| We’re partnering with ProPublica to make these ads available in a searchable database on our site, along with the targeting demographics. This will enable greater transparency around political advertising in Australia and give an insight into which segments of the population political organisations are targeting. | We’re partnering with ProPublica to make these ads available in a searchable database on our site, along with the targeting demographics. This will enable greater transparency around political advertising in Australia and give an insight into which segments of the population political organisations are targeting. |
| If you would like to participate in this project, you can install the browser plugin for Chrome here, and for Firefox here. | If you would like to participate in this project, you can install the browser plugin for Chrome here, and for Firefox here. |
| Once you have installed the plugin, click on it to go through the set-up process. After the plugin is set up, you can collect ads by scrolling through Facebook. To send them to us you need to classify the ads collected as “political ad” or “normal ad” by clicking on the plugin again. | Once you have installed the plugin, click on it to go through the set-up process. After the plugin is set up, you can collect ads by scrolling through Facebook. To send them to us you need to classify the ads collected as “political ad” or “normal ad” by clicking on the plugin again. |
| Submit photographs of material through our form or via email | Submit photographs of material through our form or via email |
| For Facebook or another social network, please also submit screenshots of the ad in your feed using the form below, following these instructions. | For Facebook or another social network, please also submit screenshots of the ad in your feed using the form below, following these instructions. |
| Take a screenshot of the ad content with the “sponsored” text clearly visible. If this doesn’t cover all of the important ad content, feel free to then take multiple other screenshots. | Take a screenshot of the ad content with the “sponsored” text clearly visible. If this doesn’t cover all of the important ad content, feel free to then take multiple other screenshots. |
| Then, click on the three dots “…” at the top right of the ad and select “Why am I seeing this”, and screenshot the ad-targeting information. | Then, click on the three dots “…” at the top right of the ad and select “Why am I seeing this”, and screenshot the ad-targeting information. |
| Finally, send us the screenshots with this form (unfortunately it can only take one file at a time, so you will have to fill it out twice). | Finally, send us the screenshots with this form (unfortunately it can only take one file at a time, so you will have to fill it out twice). |
| If everything else fails, just email us at australia.elections@theguardian.com. | If everything else fails, just email us at australia.elections@theguardian.com. |
| Australian politics | Australian politics |
| The Transparency Project | |
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