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).
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/...
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).
And if you want a really obvious example... In 2024, the Greens spent ~£300k on generic, national message digital ads targeting the four seats they ultimately won (and nowhere else). Understanding the blurry distinction between national and local spending helped them out-campaign their opponents.
December 9, 2025 at 9:27 AM
And if you want a really obvious example... In 2024, the Greens spent ~£300k on generic, national message digital ads targeting the four seats they ultimately won (and nowhere else). Understanding the blurry distinction between national and local spending helped them out-campaign their opponents.
In the past, we've seen the Tories and Labour use ad targeting to exclude constituencies to ensure there's no sniff of rule-breaking. But that's not something we saw Reform consistently do in 2024 (again, this is more "spirit of the law" stuff than anything that would actually be enforced).
December 9, 2025 at 9:27 AM
In the past, we've seen the Tories and Labour use ad targeting to exclude constituencies to ensure there's no sniff of rule-breaking. But that's not something we saw Reform consistently do in 2024 (again, this is more "spirit of the law" stuff than anything that would actually be enforced).
During last year's election campaign, Reform ran approx £700k of digital ads on Meta and Google. A lot of those targeted the whole UK. The majority featured Nigel Farage or were from his own Facebook page. Were they national or candidate spending? If you saw this ad in Clacton, what would you think?
December 9, 2025 at 9:27 AM
During last year's election campaign, Reform ran approx £700k of digital ads on Meta and Google. A lot of those targeted the whole UK. The majority featured Nigel Farage or were from his own Facebook page. Were they national or candidate spending? If you saw this ad in Clacton, what would you think?
The "deceptive design" of blue ticks is more subjective. We'd prefer to see any blue tick scheme that offers reach in return for money treated for what it is - advertising - and regulated as such.
December 5, 2025 at 1:03 PM
The "deceptive design" of blue ticks is more subjective. We'd prefer to see any blue tick scheme that offers reach in return for money treated for what it is - advertising - and regulated as such.
The fine is €120m (possibly designed to be 'just right' in size). Particularly interesting to us is the firm requirement that platforms provide useful, usable ad libraries, as well as access to data for the researcher community.
December 5, 2025 at 1:03 PM
The fine is €120m (possibly designed to be 'just right' in size). Particularly interesting to us is the firm requirement that platforms provide useful, usable ad libraries, as well as access to data for the researcher community.
Vance is wrong here. There's no meaningful threat to free speech from ad transparency.
December 4, 2025 at 10:35 PM
Vance is wrong here. There's no meaningful threat to free speech from ad transparency.
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).
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...
After many months work, we launched a major new version of our Trends political ad tracking platform this morning.
Take a look (and let us know your feedback - we'd love to hear from you):
trends.whotargets.me/reports
Take a look (and let us know your feedback - we'd love to hear from you):
trends.whotargets.me/reports
November 10, 2025 at 10:45 AM
After many months work, we launched a major new version of our Trends political ad tracking platform this morning.
Take a look (and let us know your feedback - we'd love to hear from you):
trends.whotargets.me/reports
Take a look (and let us know your feedback - we'd love to hear from you):
trends.whotargets.me/reports
Kemi Badenoch is currently spending around £1,000 a day on ads asking people to like/follow her on Facebook. She currently has 183k followers (predecessors Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson have 1.1M and 2.3M respectively, though Liz Truss only 117k).
November 7, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Kemi Badenoch is currently spending around £1,000 a day on ads asking people to like/follow her on Facebook. She currently has 183k followers (predecessors Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson have 1.1M and 2.3M respectively, though Liz Truss only 117k).
Digital political ad spending in the US has crept up over the last two weeks, ahead of tomorrow's elections. Last year the peak day (Oct 30) saw almost $25m of political ads on Meta and Google. This year the peak spend is $3.8m (so far).
November 3, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Digital political ad spending in the US has crept up over the last two weeks, ahead of tomorrow's elections. Last year the peak day (Oct 30) saw almost $25m of political ads on Meta and Google. This year the peak spend is $3.8m (so far).
One of the interesting things about the growth of the Green Party (particularly their membership) in the UK over the last several months is that it's happened (no pun intended) organically. They've barely spent anything on digital ads, and nothing at all from their main party accounts.
November 2, 2025 at 5:36 PM
One of the interesting things about the growth of the Green Party (particularly their membership) in the UK over the last several months is that it's happened (no pun intended) organically. They've barely spent anything on digital ads, and nothing at all from their main party accounts.
Labour launched a new ad including a clip of Sarah Pochin's racist comments on black and asian people in TV ads, arguing Reform represents "division and grievance". Ad here: www.facebook.com/ads/library/...
November 1, 2025 at 11:14 AM
Labour launched a new ad including a clip of Sarah Pochin's racist comments on black and asian people in TV ads, arguing Reform represents "division and grievance". Ad here: www.facebook.com/ads/library/...
New Tory digital ad campaign, going after Labour on (expected) tax rises.
November 1, 2025 at 10:58 AM
New Tory digital ad campaign, going after Labour on (expected) tax rises.
If you pick a country with enough elections and go back far enough...
October 30, 2025 at 5:40 PM
If you pick a country with enough elections and go back far enough...
Cuomo vs. Mamdani vs. Silwa digital ad spend (Google + Meta) over the last month. We've included the PACs supporting their candidacies (if we didn't, Andrew Cuomo would have spent <$1k - there's almost no positive advertising in his own name).
October 30, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Cuomo vs. Mamdani vs. Silwa digital ad spend (Google + Meta) over the last month. We've included the PACs supporting their candidacies (if we didn't, Andrew Cuomo would have spent <$1k - there's almost no positive advertising in his own name).
This is the data from the last month that social media ads were available to Dutch parties (ending Oct 4th). It can't tell you much about campaign effectiveness, but perhaps it does show that D66 and FvD were confident about improving their positions.
October 29, 2025 at 9:36 PM
This is the data from the last month that social media ads were available to Dutch parties (ending Oct 4th). It can't tell you much about campaign effectiveness, but perhaps it does show that D66 and FvD were confident about improving their positions.
Reform running ads calling on people to sign a petition against local elections in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Surrey, East and West Sussex and Hampshire being postponed next year. So far, £2.5k spent, 500k people reached, 75k signatures. But there are two sides to this story...
October 22, 2025 at 11:36 AM
Reform running ads calling on people to sign a petition against local elections in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Surrey, East and West Sussex and Hampshire being postponed next year. So far, £2.5k spent, 500k people reached, 75k signatures. But there are two sides to this story...