# Facebook Ads: Politics of Migration in Italy

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2010.04458 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.04458/

## Key facts

- Cited by 5 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 9 Oct 2020.

## Built on by (most cited first, 5 of 5)

- [Weakly Supervised Learning for Analyzing Political Campaigns on Facebook](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.10669/) (2022)
- [Discovering Latent Themes in Social Media Messaging: A Machine-in-the-Loop Approach Integrating LLMs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.10707/) (2024)
- [Unraveling Social Perceptions & Behaviors towards Migrants on Twitter](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.06642/) (2021)
- [Post-hoc Study of Climate Microtargeting on Social Media Ads with LLMs: Thematic Insights and Fairness Evaluation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.05401/) (2024)
- [Analysis of Climate Campaigns on Social Media using Bayesian Model Averaging](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.06174/) (2023)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Targeted online advertising is on the forefront of political communication, allowing hyper-local advertising campaigns around elections and issues. In this study, we employ a new resource for political ad monitoring -- Facebook Ads Library -- to examine advertising concerning the issue of immigration in Italy. A crucial topic in Italian politics, it has recently been a focus of several populist movements, some of which have adopted social media as a powerful tool for voter engagement. Indeed, we find evidence of targeting by the parties both in terms of geography and demographics (age and gender). For instance, Five Star Movement reaches a younger audience when advertising about immigration, while other parties' ads have a more male audience when advertising on this issue. We also notice a marked rise in advertising volume around elections, as well as a shift to more general audience. Thus, we illustrate political advertising targeting that likely has an impact on public opinion on a topic involving potentially vulnerable populations, and urge the research community to include online advertising in the monitoring of public discourse.