Political Campaigns Can Still Target You on Facebook

SignYou can find it hereTo get On PoliticsGet your email on Tuesdays Thursdays.

DuringBoth the 2020 election and the BidenThe TrumpCampaigns ran FacebookAdvertisements targeted at BlackVoters in Kenosha, WisThe summer was dominated by protests over race/policing.

On Tuesday, MetaThe social media company that was formerly known as FacebookAnnounced changes that, from the surface, appear to reduce such targeting. ButCampaigns can still circumvent these limitations.

The company said it planned to eliminate advertisers’ ability to target people with promotions based on their interactions with content related to race and ethnicity or political affiliation, as well as thousands of other topics.

ButThese changes would not stop a campaign targeting the same audience in the future. WisconsinWith Facebook ads, just in different ways: LocationTargeting is still permissible, but only up to the ZIP Code. Campaigns could also use a feature known as “look-alike audiences,” along with a host of remaining options.

IndeedThe changes announced by MetaOn Tuesday — which arrived amid a growing outcry over the damage social platforms have done to the political and social fabric — will most likely just force political campaigns to switch methods. TheyHowever, they will still be able easily reach specific voters.

“There’s just so many different ways that you can reach different groups of people not using these targeting methods, even going to geolocation and textual data,” Tim Cameron, RepublicanDigital consultant, said. “Now, where you can’t use detailed targeting to reach L.G.B.T.Q. You can place ads about culture. Pride WeekYou can also find it in certain places. So, it’s just kind of like a closed road that at the end of the day, people are going to find a way to get around it to get to their destination.”

ThatCampaigns can still use this targeted targeting Meta’s platforms, which include Facebook, Instagram MessengerThis is an illustration of the difficulties the company has in reining in its political advertisement process. SomeI have considered this process exploitative of vulnerable group, especially in a viciously polarized political arena.

Aside from targeting audiences based on ZIP codes, another common tactic campaigns use is uploading data, such as a campaign’s voter file, and running specific ads to people the campaigns want to reach. They can also use “look-alike” models, which take a ZIP code that has similar demographics to a segment they want to target and ask FacebookTo find like-minded audiences

TheIn a statement announcing the changes, company noted that some of these targeting options would still remain available.

“The decision to remove these detailed targeting options was not easy and we know this change may negatively impact some businesses and organizations,” Graham MuddVice President of Product Marketing Meta, said. “Like many of our decisions, this was not a simple choice and required a balance of competing interests where there was advocacy in both directions.”

Meta’s changes are likely to have a more substantial footprint outside politics, such as in combating housing discrimination or exploiting body image issues to sell products.

AndPolitical campaigns will face new challenges. UsingBehavior targeting or interest targeting is critical for finding new donors or voters, and for maintaining the efficiency that is digital advertising’s hallmark.

“We use it as a way to exclude conservative-leaning segments,” said Cat SternDirector of digital persuasion, Authentic, DemocraticDigital firm explaining how interest targeting helps campaigns reach more voters. She added thatThe removal of behavioral targeting, such as finding people “likely to engage with political content,” would also force campaigns to “get creative” in their efforts to reach new audiences.

InA statement on WednesdayCalling on MetaThe four campaign arms of the Democratic Party — the national committee, committees that oversee races for governor, House and Senate — argued that the new limitations did not address the larger crisis plaguing the platform: disinformation.

“Meta has once again shirked its responsibility to protect voters on its platforms by implementing backwards political ad policies that will limit our ability to communicate with voters about the democratic process, and that once again do nothing to address the platform’s most serious issue — an algorithm that incentivizes misinformation and hate,” the statement said.

On PoliticsIt is also available as an email newsletter. SignYou can find it hereTo have it delivered to your mailbox

Is there anything you think we’re missing? AnythingDo you want to see more? We’d love to hear from you. EmailContact us at onpolitics@nytimes.com.