- Since Facebook began tracking and publicly reporting which pages pay for political ads in May 2018, more than $887 million has been spent on Facebook ads about social issues, elections, or politics.
- Of the 18 biggest spenders on Facebook during that window, about a third are directly affiliated with political candidates' campaigns, either for 2018 midterms or the 2020 presidential election.
- Other pages pouring millions into political Facebook ads may come as more of a surprise, including gun-rights activists, animal rights groups, and ExxonMobil.
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Advertisers have purchased more than $887 million worth of political ads on Facebook since May 2018.
Of that total, at least $21 million was spent by Facebook's No. 1 customer for political ads: the campaign to reelect President Donald Trump. But some of the other pages spending the most on political Facebook ads are a bit more surprising.
Available data on political ads on Facebook dates back to May 2018, when the social network started classifying ads about "social issues, elections, or politics." Advertisers can use Facebook's trove of user data to target ads to specific demographics, including political affiliation, location, gender, and age.
Facebook has published information about political ads in an effort to be more transparent after it received blowback for its role in spreading false or misleading information that aimed to influence the 2016 election.
The company is still under fire for how it handles political ads. The tech giant has said it will not fact-check political candidates' ads, prompting outrage from lawmakers and Facebook's own employees alike. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has maintained that the policy is rooted in free speech values.
It's also not entirely clear how Facebook determines which ads are about "social issues, elections, or politics." Earlier this month, Facebook temporarily blocked an LGBTQ health clinic from advertising HIV prevention medicine because it said the page was not authorized to buy political ads.
We compiled a list of Facebook's biggest political ad buyers based on information from its ad archive. The list of the biggest spenders paints a picture of how politicians and special interests are using the platform to influence policy and sway public opinion.
