WIRED

Following the explosion of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Facebook has been trying hard to cleanse itself from misinformation and targeted content aimed at surreptitiously influencing the democratic process in several countries.

But the tech giant’s countermeasures don’t seem to be enough to stem the tide of political manipulation in which both foreign and domestic actors engage on the platform. Evidence disclosed by the Commons’ Select Committee for Digital Culture Media and Sport (DCMS), suggests that a website, whose financial backers are unknown, has targeted Facebook users with paid political ads promoting a pro-Brexit, anti-Chequers agenda. The ads also encouraged users in Leave-voting areas to cajole their MPs into voting down the Chequers deal – collecting the users’ email addresses at the same time.


The evidence was gathered by 89up, a London-based web content, social media, and PR consultancy. “We were asked by the [DCMS] committee to check whether fake news is an ongoing phenomenon,” company CEO Mike Harris says. The firm counts anti-Brexit campaign Best for Britain among its clients, and has made no mystery of its pro-Remain sympathies. While researching the topic, Harris stumbled upon a Twitter post – specifically, an ad attacking Best for Britain – which prompted him to search for more information about the website that had published it.

"Here we have an example of a clearly sophisticated organisation spending lots of money on a political campaign, and we have absolutely no idea who is behind it," says Damian Collins, the DCMS committee chair. "The only people who know who is paying for these adverts is Facebook."

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The suspicious website, called Mainstream Network, was seemingly launched in December 2017. It publishes short news pieces, almost all of them with a pro-Brexit slant, usually lifted or slightly rehashed from other outlets and news agencies. The mysterious website provides no information on who is behind it, editorially or financially. Its footer, “@2017– Mainstream Network (UK). All Right Reserved”, is an ostensible touch of officialdom, but according to Companies House no active company is registered under that name in the UK. (Also, that “@” standing in for “©” is pretty unsophisticated.)

Mainstream Twitter and Facebook accounts have low subscriber counts – 471 on Twitter and 12,000 on Facebook. Again, neither account gives any information on who is controlling or funding them. The content they share includes articles from the website, captioned pictures of politicians, and videos about both Brexit and miscellanea (including Mario Kart, the Oscars, Yuri Gagarin, CES 2018, and self-driving cars).


According to the evidence from 89up, Mainstream has been investing heavily in promoting its Facebook posts. “[Mainstream’s] advertising [is] estimated at £257,000 in just over 10 months,” 89up’s report reads. Mainstream's 20 most popular posts on Facebook are said to have had engagement – likes, comments and shares – from 140,000 people. But the whole Facebook page is alleged to have reached 10-11 million people

“Furthermore, the site has a sophisticated approach to content, with over 700 pages indexed on Google,” the report reads. “We have reason to believe that this is part of a sophisticated advertising campaign.”

Mainstream has not responded to requests for comment at the time of publication. “On November 7, all advertisers will have new requirements before they can place political ads in the UK, including Mainstream Network," Rob Leathern, director of product management at Facebook, said in a statement. The company did not comment further on the Mainstream advertisements.

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"These advertisers will need to confirm their identity and location through an authorisations process and accurately represent the organization or person paying for the ad in a disclaimer," Leathern said.


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Facebook ads were targeted at voters in key Leave areas, encouraging them to write to their MPs to express their opposition to the Prime Ministers’ Chequers plan. According to 89up’s report, these ads featured “imagery relevant to [each user’s] constituency”; upon clicking on them, users were redirected to the website, from where they could directly email their MPs. The report highlights Mainstream was BCC’d in every email, which allowed the website to potentially amass the email addresses of thousands of Brexit-backing Brits; this, the report hints, could be used to further refine the ads' targeting, besides being in potential breach of GDPR.

Although the DCMS and 89up report wasn't published until October 20, reporters were given a copy ahead of time. The likely deluge of enquiries Mainstream and Facebook alike must have received seems to have already triggered some reaction. Some of Mainstream’s pages encouraging readers to email their MPs are no longer active, and its Facebook page featured no active ads by 17:00 on Friday. When the report was compiled, Mainstream was running at least 70 ads.

This new headache comes just days after Facebook announced its new rules on political ads in the UK. In the past, concerns had been voiced about the fact that political actors could run online ads on social media without disclosing their identity.

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In a blog post on Tuesday, the company declared that that was now changing. “From today, all advertisers wanting to run ads in the UK that reference political figures, political parties, elections, legislation before Parliament and past referenda that are the subject of national debate, will need to verify their identity and location and carry a 'Paid for by disclaimer,' the post read.

“While the vast majority of ads on Facebook are run by legitimate organisations, we know that there are bad actors that try to misuse our platform.”

Even if this problem were solved and anonymous ad-posting effectively eradicated from Facebook, though, it is a safe guess that this is not the last loophole the platform will have to try and plug. In the US – where the new transparency rules were rolled out in May alongside a comprehensive "Ad Archive" – recent press reports highlighted how political groups were turning to limited liability companies to pay for their social media ads – while, in the same breath, concealing the provenance of their funds. Facebook’s political war is far from over.

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