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When we think about digital political advertising and microtargeting, we often focus on bad actors like Cambridge Analytica or the IRA. But what’s often overlooked is the systems that underly the delivery of (political) ads on digital platforms: ad delivery algorithms. /2

Yes, advertisers set targeting criteria that define which users should be reached. But these are just “boundaries”. Within these, algorithms decide which specific users see an ad. This sets algorithms up as crucial intermediaries that shape political campaign outcomes. /3

To illustrate this: work by Ali et al. found that political ads cost less when it reaches an audience that aligns with the message of the ad and campaigns pay more for reaching audiences that are not aligned. Why? Meta subsidize “relevant” ads in their ad auctions. /4 dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1...