Labour HQ used Facebook ads to deceive Jeremy Corbyn during election campaign

Wow. We&#x27;ve seen people microtarget leaders and CEOs with ads on Facebook to get a job.<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;twicsy-blog.tumblr.com&#x2F;post&#x2F;174063770074&#x2F;how-i-targeted-the-reddit-ceo-with-facebook-ads-to" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;twicsy-blog.tumblr.com&#x2F;post&#x2F;174063770074&#x2F;how-i-target...</a><p>This is a case where microtargeting the boss hopefully cost them their job. This is completely unethical.

Just another example on why marketing and advertisement is a scourge upon society, it is far to easy to manipulate from the background without oversight or any ethical or moral considerations and is known to be highly effective at making people act against even their own self interests.

Wow, a left-of-center party more worried about change from within than they are about losing the election to the right. What a bizarre and unprecedented thing. Thankfully that could never happen in my home country, the USA.

So they ran ultra left wing ads micro targeted at Corbyn and similar supporters so these people thought everyone was seeing them. I really wonder if micro targeting should just be switched off for everyone during political campaigns. It allows political parties to do exactly this, be literally all things to all people rather than genuine in their messaging.<p>How can we educate people this is happening? I’m certain it’s hugely effective and undermines democracy in a way newspapers or TV could never have dreamed of.

Btw, for all those who like to step in other aritcles about the concerns with social media, to tell us how it&#x27;s just like TV was a few decades ago, this article shows why it absolutely is not.<p>The persoinal targeting provided by FB and the like makes it an entirely different beast from past experiences.

This is disturbing for the following reasons: 1. It alerts us to the possibility of fake political adverts. Do I (hypothetically)see an ad purporting to be a Tory ad promising something that will damage me, placed by a non-Tory actor? 2. Are unknown actors placing adverts which cause discord and dislike? 3. How do we solve this problem? Where FB is not regulated it will be impossible to knowingly audit the materials on its platform. 4. Given FB’s lobbying power, is regulation even possible?

<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.facebook.com&#x2F;rsaeventsofficial&#x2F;videos&#x2F;1986125631409355&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.facebook.com&#x2F;rsaeventsofficial&#x2F;videos&#x2F;1986125631...</a><p>The authors of the book mentioned in <i>The Times</i> article did a speech&#x2F;interview at the RSA on Thursday, video above.<p>I don&#x27;t use Facebook and therefore can&#x27;t log in, but I would imagine that Corbyn was aware of the campaign&#x27;s general impact through wider relationships (trade unions, Momentum, family members, sparring partners in Parliament &amp;c)

Next you&#x27;ll have morning tv shows specifically targeting world leaders who watch them.

This may be the second most cyberpunk thing to happen in the past short while, after the rise of virtual reality being impeded by people buying all the video cards to pan for virtual gold of course.

This pretty interesting, not only did his campaign fool him, they fooled the people voting for Corbyn —they made him appear more centrist than he actually was for, they feared, if they broadcast his real intended message to all, it might have turned voters away from his views.

Yet another example of why advertising is cancer and should be eradicated.

From the article:<p><i>”When the leader of a political party can be tricked in such fashion by his own officials, voters themselves stand little chance.”</i><p>This event does not support the conclusion that social media ads are effective at “tricking voters”. These ads weren’t even shown to voters. Employees simply microtargeted their boss to convince him that the ads were running.<p>The idea that social media ads are somehow effective at brainwashing people into switching sides has been a clickbait staple among journalists the last few years, but it is wholly unproven. If they want to sell this narrative, they’ll certainly need do it more convincingly than they did here.

Imagine if it was the post. The campaign managers could post far left pamphlets to Jeremy Corbyn&#x27;s house and select journalists, and send mainstream ones to most houses. Would we see this as an error in the postal system, or simply another issue of dishonesty?

Could one microtarget NSA and DHS employees in this fashion?

So how exactly microtargetting works? They target his interests? Or just import emails and hope they match the ones they provided?

i think microtargetting criteria should be disclosed the same way as who paid for the ad, be it commercial or political, doesn&#x27;t matter.<p>&quot;This ad targeting filters: &#x27;white, male, xenophobe&#x27;, paid for by Russian government&quot;

Here is a non-paywalled report on the same topic from another source: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;inews.co.uk&#x2F;news&#x2F;labour-staff-deceived-corbyn-facebook&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;inews.co.uk&#x2F;news&#x2F;labour-staff-deceived-corbyn-facebo...</a>

I&#x27;m fascinated to see the apparently limitless efforts that both the media and his own party went to in order to brand Corbyn as an extreme and dangerous left winger and undermine his progress.<p>His policies were comparable to, and sometimes to the right of, those of the SDP. The SDP being the right of the Labour party who split in the 1980s and later merged with the Liberals to give today&#x27;s LibDems.<p>He was more of the fringe in his youth. So were quite a lot of people, current politicians, even Blairites included. Peter Hain (anti-apartheid and gay rights) and David Blunkett (Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire[0]) spring to mind as having had far more activist and strident roots than Corbyn. Blunkett went on to be a Home Secretary the right of the Tory party would have been proud of.<p>Edit: Nowhere am I <i>advocating</i> his policies, why the downvotes?<p>[0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Socialist_Republic_of_South_Yorkshire" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Socialist_Republic_of_South_Yo...</a>

From a sporting (British?) point of view, it&#x27;s a brilliant move.<p>Other than that it&#x27;s profoundly dishonest, and one has to wonder who they consider as their true enemy.

Programming people seems to be the next frontier of programming.

Paywall stops me from getting past the top. But, just wow.<p>If it accurately reflects what happened, well, they&#x27;re going to have to designate a new category of shitstorm.<p>One that, I hope, sucks in FB and forces some true accounting and reckoning, not just of this circumstance but as a fundamental part of the platform and business practices.

huh we need a new version of the GDPR already it seems. Unfortunately it won&#x27;t help Britain.

I&#x27;m confused. Jeremy Corbyn could have clicked on the button &quot;why do I see this ad&quot; and find out he was targeted.

Is Jeremy Corbin on Facebook?<p>Edit: it’s a serious question. He may have a presence but is it actually him?