Thread by @EllenLWeintraub

HOT🔥PLAN!

@facebook & @Google are considering ditching “#microtargeting” political ads – the technique foreign & domestic actors abused in 2016 to spread disinformation & sow discord.

Problem: If they *do* quit microtargeting, what should replace it?

I have a proposal.

1/5

My 3-point plan is easy for the internet ad giants to execute, explain, and understand, and it scales well:

1. Target political ads only by large and fully disclosed geographic areas.

#microtargeting 2/5

2. Allow targeting no more specific than one political level below the election at which the ad is directed.

Want to influence a governor’s race? You could target your ads to the whole state, or to its individual counties.

#microtargeting 3/5

(Make an exception for presidential ads, which can be appropriately targeted down *two* levels from the national level, to the state and then to the county or congressional-district level.)

#microtargeting 4/5

3. Nix “custom audiences” programs, which defeat any efforts to effectively publicly disclose how ads are targeted.

#microtargeting 5/5

For more on why microtargeting political ads is a bad idea, see my @washingtonpost op-ed:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/…