Commentary: A Way to Detect the Next Russian Misinformation Campaign

ComProp Director Phil Howard argues in the New York Times that tech platforms should be required to publish a public archive of all ads to prevent and expose misinformation campaigns in the future.

Research has found that the most polarizing Facebook ad content comes from political groups that don’t even register with the Federal Election Commission and that these groups generate four times as many ads as those that do.

A comprehensive archive of all ads would create a record of all such misinformation campaigns that could be used to prevent them in the future. The people and groups behind these ads aren’t going to volunteer the details about them on their own. A fully searchable public archive, maintained by an independent ad council financed by a fraction of ad revenues, will give democracy a healthy shot of algorithmic transparency.

Read the editorial in full on the New York Times website.