Martech: Martech is Marketing Logo
  • Topics
    Digital Transformation
    Marketing Operations
    Data
    Customer & Digital Experience
    Performance Marketing
    Marketing Management
    Special Reports
    MarTech Topics
  • Conference
  • Webinars
  • Intelligence Reports
  • White Papers
  • What is MarTech
    Mission
    Staff
    Newsletter
    Search Engine Land
    Third Door Media

Processing...Please wait.

MarTech » Marketing Operations » How social ads’ location targeting can side-step electioneering laws

How social ads’ location targeting can side-step electioneering laws

Ads on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and especially Snapchat can be pinpointed to people within polling places' no-signs zones.

Tim Peterson on November 8, 2016 at 2:11 pm

politics-elections-democrats-republicans-ss-1920

In California — and other states like Texas and New York — you’re not allowed to visibly promote a political candidate within 100 feet of a polling place on an election day. It violates the state’s law against electioneering. That means, this morning I couldn’t stand outside my local polling place and hold a sign advocating for Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. But I could buy ads in social apps like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter aimed at people in the area.

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and especially Snapchat offer location-based ad targeting options that can be used to pinpoint people within varying proximities of a polling place.

Whether ads on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter that are targeted to polling places would run afoul of electioneering law appears to be, at best, a gray area. The press secretary for the California Secretary of State has not returned a phone message left on Monday asking whether these ads would violate the law.

On Facebook and Instagram I can advertise to anyone within 1 mile of the polling place by buying Facebook’s Local Awareness Ads. On Twitter the narrowest I can get is running a Promoted Tweet campaign to anyone within the same zip code, though I can add audience-targeting filters like people believed to be Democratic and Republican voters and people Twitter has categorized as interested in Election Day.

These ads would be more precise than an ad that doesn’t use location targeting, making them more likely to reach people within a 100-foot radius of the polling place. But they wouldn’t only reach people within a 100-foot radius of the polling place. Instead of being the digital equivalent to someone standing just outside the polling place with a “Vote for Hillary” sign, they’re closer to that person holding a megaphone from a couple blocks away and shouting “Vote for Hillary” within earshot of the polling place or a large billboard that’s a mile away but within view of the polling place.

As a result, these ads would be “unlikely” to violate the California Elections Code, said Derek Muller, associate professor of law at Pepperdine University School of Law, in an email. The likelihood hinges on whether the state’s Attorney General would interpret the ad as violating the rule prohibiting electioneering and whether that interpretation upheld the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

“I think there’s a difference between someone bringing an ad from outside the polling place into it (like a phone with an ad already on it), versus an ad triggered when someone steps into the polling place (much closer to the concern raised in the electioneering context). If that’s the case, I imagine the AG is more likely to view that as a violation of the statute and that enforcing it would not run afoul of the First Amendment,” said Muller.

On Snapchat it would be possible to trigger an ad when someone steps into the polling place. Anyone can buy from Snapchat an on-demand geofilter — an overlay that can be applied to a photo or video someone shares on Snapchat — that would be only shown to people within a defined physical area, like a polling place. See for yourself. Here’s an on-demand geofilter I created around my local polling place.

snapchat_electiongeofilter-800

It’s unclear whether these social platforms can and do block ads from being shown within 100 feet of polling places in order to not risk violating the law. Given that Google is able to tell search users where their designated polling place is located, it seems like Facebook/Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter would be able to get their hands on polling place data.

Facebook requires advertisers comply with local laws, according to a Facebook spokesperson. Snapchat and Twitter declined to comment for this article.

Based on ads I ran on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter this morning — targeted the way I mentioned earlier — and seen live on my girlfriend’s phone while in line at the polling place, those companies do not have any blocks in place. I’ve submitted a Snapchat on-demand geofilter that’s fenced around my polling place like in the picture above, but it’s still under review.


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily MarTech. Staff authors are listed here.


New on MarTech

    How clean, organized and actionable is your data?
    Replacement Survey: The top 5 solutions replaced
    What’s the biggest hidden secret in Google Ads?
    Native video tops social media in brand awareness study
    Worsening economy has more shoppers getting online info before making in-store purchases

About The Author

Tim Peterson
Tim Peterson, Third Door Media's Social Media Reporter, has been covering the digital marketing industry since 2011. He has reported for Advertising Age, Adweek and Direct Marketing News. A born-and-raised Angeleno who graduated from New York University, he currently lives in Los Angeles. He has broken stories on Snapchat's ad plans, Hulu founding CEO Jason Kilar's attempt to take on YouTube and the assemblage of Amazon's ad-tech stack; analyzed YouTube's programming strategy, Facebook's ad-tech ambitions and ad blocking's rise; and documented digital video's biggest annual event VidCon, BuzzFeed's branded video production process and Snapchat Discover's ad load six months after launch. He has also developed tools to monitor brands' early adoption of live-streaming apps, compare Yahoo's and Google's search designs and examine the NFL's YouTube and Facebook video strategies.

Related Topics

Marketing OperationsPerformance Marketing

Get the daily newsletter digital marketers rely on.

Processing...Please wait.

See terms.

ATTEND OUR EVENTS The MarTech Conference logo.

September 28-29, 2022: Fall

Start Training Now: Master Classes

Start Discovering Now: Spring



The SMX Conference logo.

Start Training Now:: SMX Advanced

November 14-15, 2022: SMX Next

March 8-9, 2022: Master Classes

Webinars

Agencies: Grow Revenue Streams Through Web Accessibility & Compliance

Protect Your Paid Advertising Spend Against Ad Fraud and Invalid Traffic

Build an Integrated Search Strategy Across Google, Amazon and YouTube

See More Webinars
Intelligence Reports

Enterprise SEO Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Identity Resolution Platforms

Email Marketing Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

See More Intelligence Reports
Featured White Paper

Site Search 101

See More Whitepapers

Receive daily marketing news & analysis.

Processing...Please wait.

Topics

  • Transformation
  • Operations
  • Data
  • Experience
  • Performance
  • Management
  • All Topics
  • Home

Our Events

  • MarTech
  • Search Marketing Expo - SMX

About

  • What is MarTech
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Marketing Opportunities
  • Staff

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters
  • RSS

© 2022 Third Door Media, Inc. All rights reserved.