Online ads still vulnerable to manipulation in US election

[usaf-vet]

Source: AP

By BARBARA ORTUTAY and AMANDA SEITZ

Older men in Arkansas might see a close-up photo of President Donald Trump pumping his fist in the air, along with a message asking them to donate $30 to his campaign for a Super Bowl commercial.

Middle-aged women in California might see a photo of Trump pointing to a crowd, with a plea for them to give “any amount” to the campaign.

Before Election Day, politicians are expected to spend more than $1 billion to pelt voters with millions of these cheap online ads, which can be tailored to a voter’s most personal details — down to one household or even a single individual.

Experts warn that this ad-targeting system is still vulnerable to manipulation by foreign governments and domestic grifters trying to influence the election, just as they did in 2016. Those attempts could become more sophisticated this year as tech companies wrestle with a dysfunctional federal election watchdog agency and deploy haphazard safeguards that still offer plenty of loopholes.

Read more: https://apnews.com/eef44be313efdefa959ec7d7200474cc

[Scarsdale]

1. We are royallly screwed.

Thanks gop. It might have been easier to take if they had any intelligent leaders in their group, but they do not. Asses like Gym Jordan, Rand Paul, Little Lindsey, Goetz, and the biggest LOSER tRump. He is a loser, he lost out when intelligence was given out at birth. He lost out when looks were distributed. Creepy, ugly, vile, crude shell of a human being. Putin certainly knew what he was doing, getting tRump under his thumb with crippling debt.

[ManiacJoe]

2. Misleading title on the article.

It is not the ads that are being manipulated.

[usaf-vet]

3. The content of the ads are being use to persuade voters to chance their minds.

Instead of a car ad convincing you to buy a Chevy and not a Ford.

Political ads are being used to convince you to vote for one party over the other.


Netflix’s The Great Hack explores how Cambridge Analytica sold your data during the 2016 electionhttps://www.vox.com/culture/2019/7/25/8930283/great-hack-review-netflix-facebook-cambridge-analytica

[ManiacJoe]

4. Exactly.

The voters are being manipulated.
The ad system is working as designed.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

5. It's kind of like profiling.

Cambridge Analytica and others have been selling our information for years. It's just that now technologies have been created that can target us down to the hair on our heads.

I GOOGLED something the other night out of curiosity. The next day, I was inundated with ads and info-spots about that topic. Data mining companies are getting inside our heads and our lives. Every day, they get more and more personal. I've never been on social media. No facebook, no twitter, no instantgram, and I still get this barage of garbage on my phone, my laptop, my cell.