Facebook Spending – DELTA Lab

Long-term monitoring helps identify gaps in Facebook reporting

August 4, 2020August 3, 2020 by Wesleyan Media Project

In Facebook’s Ad Library, Facebook reports spending on political advertisements by day, week, 30-day, and 90-day summaries, and total spending to date by Facebook Page and Disclaimer (for example, Page: Donald J. Trump, Disclaimer: TRUMP MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN COMMITTEE).

Through long-term monitoring of the Facebook reports, we became aware that not every day’s numbers can be trusted the same. An analyst or a reporter who decides to use a daily download from Facebook may be in for an unpleasant surprise.

Coronavirus coverage minimal in presidential candidate digital advertising

June 1, 2020May 21, 2020 by Wesleyan Media Project

Tracking Facebook ad references to the pandemic from candidates and their affiliated pages

By Conner Sexton and Spencer Dean

Introduction

Presidential campaigns, including leadership PACs and single-candidate super PACs, have spent upwards of $185 million on Facebook advertisements since the beginning of 2019, as reported by the Wesleyan Media Project. By comparison, $751 million has been spent on TV ads from all sponsors in the presidential race. In recent weeks, as a narrowing of the field coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic, the volume of TV advertisements seems to have decreased significantly.