Strategists Say Facebook Rewards Extreme Ads

“Campaign strategists are gearing up to flood Facebook with inflammatory and polarizing ads heading into the midterm elections, saying its advertising platform rewards extreme messaging more than other venues,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Ahead of the 2016 election, former Democratic strategist Melissa Ryan tested a range of online campaign ads including ‘pretty and ugly, nice and incendiary,’ she said. ‘Ugly and incendiary won every time,’ including on Facebook, said Ms. Ryan … Facebook and some campaign strategists dispute this finding, saying the ad-auction system doesn’t reward extreme messages in isolation of other factors.”