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Introduction
Did you know that your online shopping habits can affect which political ads you see?
Online political ads, know them like they know you
Political parties and campaigners use a variety of communication methods to engage with voters. These methods have developed over time, as technology has advanced – from doorstep canvassing to town hall hustings, from party political TV broadcasts to large scale advertising campaigns, from telephone to email marketing campaigns.
The growth of the internet and social media provide political parties and campaigners with new ways of getting messages to voters. Just like commercial companies using the latest online marketing techniques to sell products and services, political campaigners are using personal information and sophisticated data analytics techniques to target voters.
Your data and the targeting of online political ads
Candidates, registered political parties and registered campaigners are allowed to have copies of the full electoral register. The register includes your name, address, and nationality. This data can be used for campaigning activities, but is not detailed enough to allow campaigners to target you online.
Political campaigners often combine your data on the electoral register with more detailed information about you that they gather from other sources.
This can include information about your online shopping habits and other data gathered by electronic tools such as ‘cookies’, ‘social plugins’ and ‘tracking pixels’. These tools track your browsing habits, likes and social interactions across the internet in order to build up a profile about you. Political campaigners (and companies) use this profile to tailor ads to your specific interests – this is called microtargeting.
Microtargeting analyses your personal data to identify your interests, with the aim of influencing your actions. So, if you ‘like’ or follow a political party or show an interest in a particular issue on a social media platform, personalised adverts related to that party or issue may be displayed to you.
If you’re concerned about your data privacy there are a number of things you can do. The Information Commission’s Office (ICO) provides helpful advice to help you protect your data.
Be aware of how and why you are seeing certain messages online
The use of data analytics and targeted marketing is common. It can be beneficial to users, for example by showing you things that are relevant and interesting to you. But, if you’re concerned about why a certain organisation has targeted you, take a look at their privacy information on their website and see what it says about how they use your data.
Change your social media privacy settings The ICO has produced guidance about how to change your privacy settings on all the popular social media sites. This will help make sure the data you share on these sites is used in the way you expect.
Have further concerns about the use of your data?
The ICO can help. Get in touch with your questions or queries.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is the UK's independent body set up to uphold information rights. In May 2017 the ICO announced a formal investigation into the use of data analytics for political purposes.
