The hub provides data on individual advertisers, including what parameters they chose to identify users to target with their ads, how many impressions (or views) the ads received, the time period during which ads were run, and the advertisers’ spending on a per-campaign basis. Reddit’s new political ads transparency hub, found on a new subreddit titled r/RedditPoliticalAds, includes information on all political ad campaigns that have run on the platform since 2019. Unlike other internet platforms, Reddit only permits political advertisers to run campaigns in the United States, and at the federal level Interestingly, the data suggests that during this period there was also greater progressive spending on issue-focused political ads than conservative spending. The company has not disclosed how much revenue it generates from political advertising, but its political ads transparency hub indicates that Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris were the primary political candidates who purchased political advertisements since the beginning of 2019. As a result, Reddit has also become a popular destination for political advertisements. The company’s decentralized subreddit model has made it popular with niche communities, and the platform has gained popularity among politically active users. Reddit is a sizable social media platform, with approximately 330 million monthly active users. Reddit’s moves in this space-a combination of those taken by other platforms and some that are unique to it-are promising, but it can still do more to provide greater transparency and accountability. To navigate the complicated world of online political advertising, companies must walk a fine line. Others lawmakers, however, have pushed back on these efforts, arguing that these efforts infringe on the First Amendment. Many lawmakers in the United States, and across the globe, have pressed internet companies to implement stricter policies to crack down on this content. Reddit’s changes are valuable as concerns around how political advertising can be used to spread misinformation and disinformation continue to grow. On April 13, the company launched a political ads transparency hub and introduced a set of unique changes to its political advertising policies, removing many of the traditional divisions between advertisers and users on social media platforms. Reddit is the latest platform to try to respond to these demands. As the 2020 election nears, internet platforms are facing renewed pressure to provide transparency and accountability around political advertising on their services, to help safeguard the electoral process. But when it comes to advertising, platform users expect content to be vetted and truthful. Misinformation is rampant on internet platforms, both in user posts and in advertising, and Reddit is no exception. ![]() These are all examples of viral misinformation and disinformation stories that have spread across Reddit over the past few years. The Black Lives Matter campaign blocked aid from reaching Hurricane Harvey victims, Bill Gates wants to use vaccines with microchips to control, follow, and reduce the world’s population, the white supremacist that organized the Charlottesville rally is actually a liberal spy. ![]() ![]() ![]() This article is part of the Free Speech Project, a collaboration between Future Tense and the Tech, Law, & Security Program at American University Washington College of Law that examines the ways technology is influencing how we think about speech.
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