Who Targets Me
@whotargets.me
On political ads, transparency and what's right for democracy. Go to https://whotargets.me/download to get involved, check out https://trends.whotargets.me for data on >100k digital political advertisers. Newsletter: fulldisclosure.whotargets.me
UK political parties and candidates spent £3.1m on Meta and Google ads in 2025. Top 5 accounts were (Meta, unless stated):
- Farage: £384k
- Conservatives: £326k
- Labour £275k
- Labour (Google/YouTube): £215k
- Reform: £133k
1,899 political accounts ran ads (of 9,344 we track in the UK).
- Farage: £384k
- Conservatives: £326k
- Labour £275k
- Labour (Google/YouTube): £215k
- Reform: £133k
1,899 political accounts ran ads (of 9,344 we track in the UK).
January 12, 2026 at 12:31 PM
UK political parties and candidates spent £3.1m on Meta and Google ads in 2025. Top 5 accounts were (Meta, unless stated):
- Farage: £384k
- Conservatives: £326k
- Labour £275k
- Labour (Google/YouTube): £215k
- Reform: £133k
1,899 political accounts ran ads (of 9,344 we track in the UK).
- Farage: £384k
- Conservatives: £326k
- Labour £275k
- Labour (Google/YouTube): £215k
- Reform: £133k
1,899 political accounts ran ads (of 9,344 we track in the UK).
Reposted by Who Targets Me
In short, it doesn't matter what side of the political divide you're on. Just be transparent about who you are (particularly so if you're outspending every other political advertiser in the country over the last week)!
January 6, 2026 at 11:21 AM
In short, it doesn't matter what side of the political divide you're on. Just be transparent about who you are (particularly so if you're outspending every other political advertiser in the country over the last week)!
Reposted by Who Targets Me
Ultimately, if you check Companies House records, you can work out who the company director is (journalist, ex-IPPR, New Economics Foundation, Fabian Society), but it really shouldn't be needed to understand who's behind a pretty well-funded campaign designed to influence an election.
January 6, 2026 at 11:21 AM
Ultimately, if you check Companies House records, you can work out who the company director is (journalist, ex-IPPR, New Economics Foundation, Fabian Society), but it really shouldn't be needed to understand who's behind a pretty well-funded campaign designed to influence an election.
Reposted by Who Targets Me
A new anti-Reform ad campaign from "Common Sense Cymru" has been running in Wales for the last week. So far, they've spent nearly £12,000 on Meta ads. They're running a mixture of attack ads and "register to vote" messaging.
www.facebook.com/ads/library/...
www.facebook.com/ads/library/...
January 6, 2026 at 11:10 AM
A new anti-Reform ad campaign from "Common Sense Cymru" has been running in Wales for the last week. So far, they've spent nearly £12,000 on Meta ads. They're running a mixture of attack ads and "register to vote" messaging.
www.facebook.com/ads/library/...
www.facebook.com/ads/library/...
A new anti-Reform ad campaign from "Common Sense Cymru" has been running in Wales for the last week. So far, they've spent nearly £12,000 on Meta ads. They're running a mixture of attack ads and "register to vote" messaging.
www.facebook.com/ads/library/...
www.facebook.com/ads/library/...
January 6, 2026 at 11:10 AM
A new anti-Reform ad campaign from "Common Sense Cymru" has been running in Wales for the last week. So far, they've spent nearly £12,000 on Meta ads. They're running a mixture of attack ads and "register to vote" messaging.
www.facebook.com/ads/library/...
www.facebook.com/ads/library/...
Political ads unbanned on Tiktok in time for next year's US midterms? www.axios.com/2025/12/18/t...
December 18, 2025 at 11:09 PM
Political ads unbanned on Tiktok in time for next year's US midterms? www.axios.com/2025/12/18/t...
Our ideas for improving the integrity of UK elections got a shout out in @petergeoghegan.bsky.social's latest "Democracy for Sale" newsletter: democracyforsale.substack.com/p/labours-fo...
Labour’s foreign interference inquiry needs to go *much* further
Plus: Mark Galeotti on Russia’s foreign political influence, the war in Ukraine and how crime organises the world
democracyforsale.substack.com
December 18, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Our ideas for improving the integrity of UK elections got a shout out in @petergeoghegan.bsky.social's latest "Democracy for Sale" newsletter: democracyforsale.substack.com/p/labours-fo...
Reposted by Who Targets Me
Not exactly a "Who Targets Me Wrapped", but a bit of a round up of what we've been working on over the last few months of 2025 (and are looking forward to in 2026):
fulldisclosure.whotargets.me/p/who-target...
fulldisclosure.whotargets.me/p/who-target...
Who Targets Me in 2025: What we’ve been working on
New tools, UK electoral policy proposals, a book, and our plans for tracking digital campaigns worldwide in 2026
fulldisclosure.whotargets.me
December 16, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Not exactly a "Who Targets Me Wrapped", but a bit of a round up of what we've been working on over the last few months of 2025 (and are looking forward to in 2026):
fulldisclosure.whotargets.me/p/who-target...
fulldisclosure.whotargets.me/p/who-target...
Not exactly a "Who Targets Me Wrapped", but a bit of a round up of what we've been working on over the last few months of 2025 (and are looking forward to in 2026):
fulldisclosure.whotargets.me/p/who-target...
fulldisclosure.whotargets.me/p/who-target...
Who Targets Me in 2025: What we’ve been working on
New tools, UK electoral policy proposals, a book, and our plans for tracking digital campaigns worldwide in 2026
fulldisclosure.whotargets.me
December 16, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Not exactly a "Who Targets Me Wrapped", but a bit of a round up of what we've been working on over the last few months of 2025 (and are looking forward to in 2026):
fulldisclosure.whotargets.me/p/who-target...
fulldisclosure.whotargets.me/p/who-target...
Democracy depends on trust. The UK’s current campaign rules struggle with opaque money, global digital reach, and outdated regulation. Here's 20 policy ideas for the forthcoming Elections Bill that would restore public confidence before the next election. whotargets.me/en/restoring...
Restoring the Integrity of UK Election Campaigns – Who Targets Me
whotargets.me
December 16, 2025 at 1:25 PM
Democracy depends on trust. The UK’s current campaign rules struggle with opaque money, global digital reach, and outdated regulation. Here's 20 policy ideas for the forthcoming Elections Bill that would restore public confidence before the next election. whotargets.me/en/restoring...
"The ten most surprising facts from the 2024 election revealed" (includes one of our charts, albeit uncredited, for fact #5).
theconversation.com/the-ten-most...
theconversation.com/the-ten-most...
The ten most surprising facts from the 2024 election revealed
Voters cared a lot less about tax than you might think.
theconversation.com
December 16, 2025 at 11:56 AM
"The ten most surprising facts from the 2024 election revealed" (includes one of our charts, albeit uncredited, for fact #5).
theconversation.com/the-ten-most...
theconversation.com/the-ten-most...
Rival politicians demand that ministers are sacked all the time, but this ad from the Conservatives is a bit different, as it asks voters/supporters to sign a petition calling for Rachel Reeves to go. It's not a tactic we remember seeing before.
December 15, 2025 at 11:12 AM
Rival politicians demand that ministers are sacked all the time, but this ad from the Conservatives is a bit different, as it asks voters/supporters to sign a petition calling for Rachel Reeves to go. It's not a tactic we remember seeing before.
Rupert Lowe's new "Great Yarmouth First" party is running ads (in Great Yarmouth) highlighting a poll of 121 residents that puts him miles ahead of his opponents (for an election that's still several years away).
December 10, 2025 at 9:52 AM
Rupert Lowe's new "Great Yarmouth First" party is running ads (in Great Yarmouth) highlighting a poll of 121 residents that puts him miles ahead of his opponents (for an election that's still several years away).
The linked article is worth a read, as it explains well the complexities of UK electoral spending rules and the very blurry distinction between national and local spending. Once you've done that, read on...
Anybody hoping that this is going to be a real problem for Farage and Reform should probably calm down and move on. This expert take suggests it's very unlikely to result in anything - for several reasons.
Nigel Farage accused of breaking election spending laws – the situation explained
Police are looking at whether the MP for Clacton overspent on his campaign – but it’s incredibly hard to make such cases stick.
theconversation.com
December 9, 2025 at 9:27 AM
The linked article is worth a read, as it explains well the complexities of UK electoral spending rules and the very blurry distinction between national and local spending. Once you've done that, read on...
X is clearly in breach in all of these areas. There's really no substantive counterargument they can make.
🚨
I am hearing from multiple sources that the EU Commission is announcing its first DSA fine tomorrow against X on ad transparency, blue check & dark pattern, and researcher access to data.
The fine is in the "100s of millions of Euros."
Elon about to get big mad.
I am hearing from multiple sources that the EU Commission is announcing its first DSA fine tomorrow against X on ad transparency, blue check & dark pattern, and researcher access to data.
The fine is in the "100s of millions of Euros."
Elon about to get big mad.
December 4, 2025 at 10:26 PM
X is clearly in breach in all of these areas. There's really no substantive counterargument they can make.
"For a platform that everybody claims to have quit, Facebook is astonishingly resilient. A whopping 71 percent of American adults still use the site." www.theverge.com/news/832132/...
Nearly everyone you know is still using Facebook
And Republicans have taken over X.
www.theverge.com
December 4, 2025 at 1:12 PM
"For a platform that everybody claims to have quit, Facebook is astonishingly resilient. A whopping 71 percent of American adults still use the site." www.theverge.com/news/832132/...
Large donations come in, ads start to pour out (about £35k's worth on Facebook in the last seven days, plus all the ones they ran across newspapers a week ago).
December 4, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Large donations come in, ads start to pour out (about £35k's worth on Facebook in the last seven days, plus all the ones they ran across newspapers a week ago).
We track ~45,000 online political advertisers in the US every day. Sign up and check out all the data here:
trends.whotargets.me/reports/d43e...
trends.whotargets.me/reports/d43e...
United States of America | All spending | Google & Meta
trends.whotargets.me
December 2, 2025 at 11:53 PM
We track ~45,000 online political advertisers in the US every day. Sign up and check out all the data here:
trends.whotargets.me/reports/d43e...
trends.whotargets.me/reports/d43e...
Interesting read about the practicalities, for an agency and ad provider, of compliance with the new EU regulations on political ads: advocate-digital.com/blog/the-new...
November 29, 2025 at 12:18 AM
Interesting read about the practicalities, for an agency and ad provider, of compliance with the new EU regulations on political ads: advocate-digital.com/blog/the-new...
Loads of fake/inauthentic Facebook ads using RFK to sell quack/dodgy pills at the moment.
November 28, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Loads of fake/inauthentic Facebook ads using RFK to sell quack/dodgy pills at the moment.
Dutch Nazis are advertising on Instagram, despite Meta's "ban" on political ads in the EU. Meta and Google's decision to stop political ads in Europe was (as predicted) a bad one, that favours the extremists and foreign influence campaigns who don't care about the "rules".
November 25, 2025 at 11:16 AM
Dutch Nazis are advertising on Instagram, despite Meta's "ban" on political ads in the EU. Meta and Google's decision to stop political ads in Europe was (as predicted) a bad one, that favours the extremists and foreign influence campaigns who don't care about the "rules".
Kemi Badenoch has ascended to the top of the UK online political ad charts over the last month. In that time, she spent £26k on Meta ads promoting her Facebook page, outspending Keir Starmer's account tenfold.
Explore the data here:
trends.whotargets.me/reports/7e7c...
Explore the data here:
trends.whotargets.me/reports/7e7c...
November 24, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Kemi Badenoch has ascended to the top of the UK online political ad charts over the last month. In that time, she spent £26k on Meta ads promoting her Facebook page, outspending Keir Starmer's account tenfold.
Explore the data here:
trends.whotargets.me/reports/7e7c...
Explore the data here:
trends.whotargets.me/reports/7e7c...
"YouTube’s Right-Wing Stars Fuel Boom in Politically Charged Ads"
www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...
www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...
YouTube’s Right-Wing Stars Fuel Boom in Politically Charged Ads
YouTube’s MAGA stars aren’t just talking politics—they’re selling it
www.bloomberg.com
November 20, 2025 at 4:16 PM
"YouTube’s Right-Wing Stars Fuel Boom in Politically Charged Ads"
www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...
www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...
When Martin Wolf (FT commentator and must-read for the global jetset policy class) says it's time Meta compensated users for fraud originating on their services, you've got an idea that will only gain more traction. www.ft.com/content/4560...
We have to be able to hold tech platforms accountable for fraud
Algorithms ensure that people who click on scams are likely to see more of them
www.ft.com
November 19, 2025 at 9:10 AM
When Martin Wolf (FT commentator and must-read for the global jetset policy class) says it's time Meta compensated users for fraud originating on their services, you've got an idea that will only gain more traction. www.ft.com/content/4560...
While all the other websites aren't working, explore a world of political ad data here: trends.whotargets.me/reports
Trends - Who Targets Me
Track Political Ad Spending on Social Media Platforms
trends.whotargets.me
November 18, 2025 at 12:55 PM
While all the other websites aren't working, explore a world of political ad data here: trends.whotargets.me/reports