Thread by @WhoTargetsMe

The @conservatives spending on Facebook ads is creeping up. They spent £2k on the 25th, £3k on the 26th, £4k on 612 ads on the 27th…

Data: facebook.com/ads/library/re…

The ads are a bit of a mixed bag in terms of what they’re trying to get people to do.

On one hand, they’re video ads designed to persuade and motivate...

… But at the same time you’re also asked to click through and fill out a survey. If you fill that one out, there’s another follow up survey asking views and voting intentions in more detail.

That'll be used to tailor messages to voters in the event of an election.

The latest ad promises “EU citizens will stay”. This one asks people to join the party.

Given it’s a membership ask and costs money, they're most likely targeted at people who have already shown interest in the party in some way (e.g. they filled out one or both surveys).

New Prime Ministers tend to get a polling bounce and a lot of ’space’ in the press to get their message across.

One way for an opposition to counter their message is on social media, where they can speak directly to voters…

So far, both Labour and The Liberal Democrats have only run a few ads at small scale since Boris Johnson became Prime Minister.

Labour aren’t even currently running the Johnson attack ads they launched last week.

The Brexit Party, still the overall highest political spender on Facebook over the last month, have spent £0 since Johnson became PM (this also appears to include their candidate in the Brecon and Radnorshire by-election, which is a bit unorthodox).

All that said, in 2017, the Conservatives outspent their opponents several times over... and lost their majority.