dark advertising

This has not been a major feature of political campaigns in Australia yet (although the 2019 election in the ACT was accompanied by a lot of online advertising) but it will, no doubt, come, which is why there is research being done into the implications. Dark advertising is the placing of ads through social media that are visible only the to publisher and the select group that has been identified as being possibly responsive to a particular line of advertising.  It is also called micro-targeting.

If you put an ad on a billboard  we all see it.  Whether we are young or old, rich or poor, religious or agnostic, and we react to it accordingly. There is a kind of levelling process in that.  If there is something dodgy in the ad there will be public comment.  But dark advertising lives between the publisher and a small group and can get away with a lot more. It is the perfect way of disseminating fake news. Put a false idea in an ad that you know will appeal to the target group and you can rely on them to spread it through their network.