General election ads: Meta complaint made over alleged failure to publish data

Coimisiún na Meán is being asked to urgently examine a complaint about Meta over an alleged failure to publish spending data on general election advertisements running on Facebook and Instagram.
It follows a complaint by digital transparency campaigners to the media watchdog seeking a review of the matter.
Liz Carolan of TheBriefing.ie and Sam Jeffers of WhoTargetsMe submitted the complaint to Coimsiún na Meán on Friday.
In their complaint, the pair argue that a week out from the election, the archive of ads that Meta is selling to candidates, political parties and third parties is “not functional”.
The platform said on Friday that it is aware of a global technical issue which is causing “some delays in the Meta Ad library” which it is trying to get things back to normal “as quickly as possible”.
“No spending data is available for the last eight days of the campaign, and no targeting data for the last 11 days,” Ms Carolan wrote in her complaint to the watchdog.
In the complaint, Ms Carolan and Mr Jeffers argue that under the Digital Services Act (DSA), the European law that seeks to tackle transparency and disinformation in the online space, Meta has legal obligations to put in place mitigations “against the systemic risks their advertising products pose to the electoral process in Ireland”.
They also claim that Meta has failed to adequately apply their own terms of service relating to their commitment to transparency of political ads, which is required by the DSA.
They are asking Coimisiún na Meán to progress the complaint “with urgency”.
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“We are heading into the most important period of the election, when most voters turn their attention to the campaign, when spending ramps up, and when scrutiny is at its most important.”
The complaint argued that the data not being published had “extremely serious” impacts on the ability of journalists and democracy researchers to scrutinise the campaign, “including the activities of those seeking to run the country, and those who might with to interfere with the process”
In a statement, a spokeswoman for Meta said that a “global technical issue is causing some delays in the Meta Ad Library”.
“We’re working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and, once fixed, all data from the election campaign period will be available to scrutinise.”
It is understood that the platform is hopeful that the data will be available next week.
The statement continued: “Thanks to our ad library, political advertising on Facebook and Instagram is more transparent than other forms of election campaigning, whether that’s billboards, newspaper ads, or direct mail.”
Coimisiún na Meán said in a statement that it does not comment on individual queries or complaints to its contact centre.
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