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Photo provided courtesy of Pixabay.com<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n By Samantha Dorn, Staff Writer <\/strong><\/p>\n Some of the biggest technology companies in the country involve changing the ways that political campaigns and other groups can target voters on their websites.\u00a0 Through a marketing strategy known as \u201cmicrotargeting,\u201d political campaigns and groups use computer data to show a user highly specific advertisements based on their personal preferences or online behavior. [1] <\/sup>\u00a0 But microtargeting has been criticized for singling out groups that may be susceptible to misinformation. [2] <\/sup><\/p>\n <\/p>\n According to MNI Targeted Media, a company that specializes in advertising and media planning for businesses, microtargeting is \u201cthe love child of predictive analytics and data insights.\u201d [3] <\/sup> It uses consumer data and demographics to create audience segments, predict buying behavior of like-minded individuals in a particular audience, and use hyper-targeted advertising to influence the audience\u2019s behavior. [4] <\/sup>\u00a0 In politics, campaign strategists use voter information and additional information from surveys to find audiences. [5] <\/sup>\u00a0 Based on their audience\u2019s characteristics and behaviors, strategists can infer the audience\u2019s opinions and voting habits, and then use this information to connect with people who are likely to vote for their candidate. [6] <\/sup> In addition, microtargeting gives these strategists an idea of how well their candidate and specific issues will fare on election day. [7] <\/sup><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tech companies have varying approaches to handling political ads on their forums.\u00a0 On one end, Facebook has stated that it would no longer fact-check political campaign ads, but is considering increasing the minimum number of people that can be targeted through political ads. [8] <\/sup>\u00a0 On the other end, Twitter has banned all political advertising from its site. [9] <\/sup>\u00a0 And Alphabet Inc., which owns Google, announced that political ads can only target users based on their age, gender, location, and the content of a page that the user is currently viewing\u2014but not based on browser history or online behavior. [10] <\/sup><\/p>\n <\/p>\n These changes in policies stem from concerns that these microtargeted ads have been used to spread misinformation, such as the ads purchased by Russian entities in order to influence the 2016 vote. [11] <\/sup>\u00a0 In addition, some are concerned about personal privacy given minimal government regulation because a user\u2019s browser history allows marketing companies to look into one\u2019s personal interests. [12] <\/sup>\u00a0 Chris Calabrese, legislative counsel for the ACLU, says that there is no privacy in this regard: \u201cAnonymity has been crucial to our political process.\u00a0 It\u2019s the reason for the secret ballot, it\u2019s the reason the Federalist Papers were anonymous.\u201d [13] <\/sup>\u00a0 Some states such as California and New York have enacted or updated legislation requiring that advertisers disclose who paid for an ad or have political ad archives, but because these state laws only extent to state and local elections, the impact on political advertising is limited.< [14] <\/sup><\/p>\n <\/p>\n With digital political ad spending expected to reach $2.9 billion in 2020, lawmakers, technology executives, and advocacy groups are calling for greater transparency. [15] <\/sup> However, the Federal Election Commission, which oversees political ads, has suffered from a number of vacancies and disagreements over updating rules, making it more difficult to regulate advertisements. [16] <\/sup>\u00a0 It is unknown whether uniform rules will be agreed upon for the upcoming presidential election, but based on the current lack of uniform rules regulating political ads, it appears unlikely that a framework will be.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [1]<\/a> https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/google-to-restrict-political-ad-targeting-on-its-platforms-11574293253?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=10<\/a><\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Id.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n [3]<\/a> https:\/\/www.mni.com\/blog\/advertmarket\/what-is-micro-targeting\/article_a12cbac0-137c-11e9-84d4-73b6685fa60c.html<\/a><\/p>\n [4]<\/a> Id.<\/em><\/p>\n [5]<\/a> Id.<\/em><\/p>\n [6]<\/a> Id.<\/em><\/p>\n [7]<\/a> https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2012\/11\/05\/politics\/voters-microtargeting\/index.html<\/a><\/p>\n [8]<\/a> https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/facebook-discussing-potential-changes-to-political-ad-policy-11574352887?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=9<\/a><\/p>\n [9]<\/a> https:\/\/apnews.com\/63057938a5b64d3592f800de19f443bc<\/a><\/p>\n [10]<\/a> https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/google-to-restrict-political-ad-targeting-on-its-platforms-11574293253?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=10<\/a><\/p>\n [11]<\/a> https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/facebook-discussing-potential-changes-to-political-ad-policy-11574352887?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=9<\/a>; https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/google-to-restrict-political-ad-targeting-on-its-platforms-11574293253?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=10<\/a><\/p>\n [12]<\/a> https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2012\/11\/05\/politics\/voters-microtargeting\/index.html<\/a><\/p>\n [13]<\/a> Id.<\/em><\/p>\n [14]<\/a> https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/as-political-ad-spending-balloons-online-consensus-on-regulation-is-elusive-11573813803?mod=article_inline<\/a><\/p>\n