Facebook said it would not disclose information about political campaign ads, nor would it disclose relevant data, such as how many users click on ads and whether the advertising information is consistent among different groups of people, despite the debate among political scientists, they want the data to be used for research.
The frequency of the advertisement, the money spent on the advertisement, where to see the advertisement and other details, according to the company's company policy, what is the information and how many people are contacted will remain confidential, this is the same for political advertising and business customers.
Rob Sherman, Facebook's deputy chief privacy officer, said in an interview on Wednesday: "advertisers see their advertising ideas and advertising positioning strategies as competitive and confidential," when asked about political advertising
"In many cases, as a condition for placing ads on Facebook, they will ask us not to give details of how they can carry out their activities on our services," he said . ".
"From our point of view, this is the confidential information of these advertisers.
Sherman said it would not be an exception to political advertising.
"We are trying to put together a consistent policy in all aspects so that we have made similar demands for everyone.
"Scholars studying the global political movement say this information promotes accountability by analyzing how candidates compete for votes and whether the electoral system meets fair expectations.
Transparency can also prevent fraudulent advertising, they say.
Michael Franz, a professor at bowdoen College, said: "We don't have the ability to track it right now, and as far as we know, no one is following it . "
Director of the Wesleyan Media program, which lists political ads on traditional television, but does not have the means to do so on Facebook.
Television has been the backbone of political advertising for decades, and local broadcasters in the United States have to disclose a lot of details about the cost of advertising and the timeline.
As long as the ads are on the market, they can be seen by anyone with TV.
However, online advertising is often aimed at narrow, more structured audiences, so for example, advertising can only be targeted at Democrats under the age of 25.
Thousands of online ads can target specific groups, and the goal may be extreme.
Scholars believe that this process may become very opaque.
"Candidates can speak out from both sides of their mouths," said Daniel Chris, a communications professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
"Having some kind of ad digital repository that buys and links to specific sources over a specific cycle is a good, democratic thing for the public.
"Without such a repository, the plight of researchers is expected to worsen as more politicians use digital advertising because the cost of digital advertising is relatively low and there are opportunities for targeted marketing.
According to President Donald Trump's campaign, ads on Facebook cost $70 million, more than any other digital platform, including Google, trump believes Facebook helped him defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton in last November.
In recent elections in the Netherlands and the UK, Facebook ads also took a prominent position, the researchers said.
Britain is looking into how candidates can use data to lock voters.
Facebook ads usually go away with the scrolling of the thumb on your smartphone and there is no permanent link.
Transparent advocates call it "dark advertising ".
Facebook called them unpublished posts.
"The researchers said the disclosure reports of the US Federal Election Commission did not help because they showed what the campaign was paying to intermediaries rather than the Internet platform.
The role of online advertising is as important as the effect of so-
Scholars say this is called "fake news" and is more concerned than advertising.
Nathan Persily said: "I think the Holy Grail of the political analysis of the 2016 election is to find out which entity's communications have an impact on which jurisdictions in the United States," a professor at Stanford University, he wrote about the election.
Facebook has information like this that should be available for research, says Persily.
Facebook's Sherman says the company is willing to listen to research proposals, but he doubts that much progress can be made.
"Even if we can be more transparent in this area, it's just a small part of the whole story," he said . ".