Beginning next month, Facebook will grant researchers access to a collection of 1.3 million advertisements focused on political and social topics, encompassing those displayed from August 3rd to November 3rd, 2020 – the date of the U.S. Presidential Election.

Facebook’s Ad Library, initially introduced in 2019, provides a comprehensive, searchable archive of all advertisements appearing on both Facebook and Instagram. This resource was created in response to concerns surrounding the 2016 interference in the U.S. election by Russian entities, and it enables investigators and journalists to examine advertisements based on subject matter, sponsoring organization, and candidate, revealing details such as the advertisement’s run dates, audience reach, and associated costs.

Facebook states that this expanded access to ad information is a direct result of requests from the academic research community, who sought more detailed insights into ad targeting practices. The platform’s highly specific ad targeting capabilities are of significant interest to researchers, who will soon be able to analyze the reasons why particular demographics were shown specific ads, including information regarding their geographic location and expressed interests.

“We understand the importance of comprehending the digital landscape of political advertising in safeguarding elections, and we acknowledge that this is a challenge we cannot address independently,” stated Sarah Clark Schiff, Product Manager at Facebook, in the official announcement.

The company’s advertising targeting mechanisms have previously led to controversy. In 2016, Facebook discontinued a targeting feature based on “ethnic affinity” within ad categories related to credit, housing, and employment, following reports of potential misuse for unlawful discriminatory practices. In 2018, the company eliminated an additional 5,000 ad targeting options due to similar concerns about the possibility of discriminatory advertising. The degree to which the Trump campaign benefited from its precise targeting of Facebook advertisements remains a subject of ongoing discussion.

Independent of opinions regarding these tools, Facebook’s publicly available ad library has proven to be a valuable resource for journalists, facilitating both in-depth investigations into specific issues and a straightforward overview of political expenditures by political party, candidate, and demographic. This new targeting data will not be available in the public Ad Library; instead, it will be exclusively accessible through the Facebook Open Research & Transparency platform, which is restricted to researchers affiliated with academic institutions.