On Thursday, Democrats from the House Intelligence Committee released several-thousand ads that had been run on Facebook as part of Russia’s efforts to interfere in U.S. politics from mid-2015 through August of last year. We broke down the numbers behind those posts, including how many clicks they got each month and how much they cost.
We thought it would be interesting, though, to also pull out the most popular ads that were introduced each month to get a broad sense of which advertising efforts were actually effective. Below, the ad campaigns initiated in each month from June 2015 to August 2017 that received the most overall clicks. (No data is available for June 2017.)
We also included information about whom each ad was meant to target. The people purchasing the ads were often specific in where they wanted the ads to run and whom they wanted to target, usually based on political views or racial identity. Notice, though, that none of the most popular ads are specifically political, talking about Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. Instead, they’re broadly political, meant, it seems, to encourage association with divisive issues in U.S. politics.
June 2015
72,043 clicks
Targeting: United States
July 2015
21,449 clicks
Targeting: People interested in “Gay pride, LGBT community, Homosexuality, LGBT culture or Same-sex marriage”
August 2015
2,341 clicks
Targeting: People who match “People who like LGBT United, Friends of connections: Friends of people who are connected to LGBT United”
September 2015
18,083 clicks
Targeting: People in Texas
October 2015
4,482 clicks
Targeting: People in Atlanta, New Orleans, Baltimore, Oakland, Calif., Ferguson, Mo., St. Louis and Milwaukee who are interested in “Humanitarianism, Human rights or Humanitarian aid”
November 2015
24,838 clicks
Targeting: People interested in “BlackNews.com or HuffPost Black Voices”
December 2015
31,413 clicks
Targeting: People interested in “Human rights or Malcolm X”
January 2016
2,592 clicks
Targeting: Black people who are interested in “National Museum of American History, Maya Angelou, Mumia Abu-Jamal, The Raw Story or motherjones”
February 2016
15,254 clicks
Targeting: United States
March 2016
5,441 clicks
Targeting: Adults younger than 65 who are interested in “Gay pride, LGBT community, Homosexuality, LGBT culture or Same-sex marriage”
April 2016
16,442 clicks
Targeting: People interested in “Black(Color) or Racism in the United States”
May 2016
18,259 clicks
Targeting: People interested in “Immigration, The Invaders or Politics”
June 2016
11,131 clicks
Targeting: People interested in “Gay pride, LGBT culture, LGBT community or LGBT social movements”
July 2016
5,871 clicks
Targeting: People ages 14 to 40 interested in “Funny Photo’s, Funny Pictures, LOL or Funny Pics”
August 2016
18,796 clicks
Targeting: People interested in “Martin Luther King, Jr., African-American Civil Rights Movement (1954-68), African-American history or Malcolm X”
September 2016
11,684 clicks
Targeting: People interested in “Independence or Patriotism”
October 2016
73,063 clicks
Targeting: People 20 and older who are interested in “State police, Law enforcement in the United States, Police, Sheriffs in the United States, Law enforcement or Police officer, Support Law Enforcement, The Thin Blue Line, Officer Down Memorial Page, Police Wives Unite, National Police Wives Association or Heroes Behind The Badge”
November 2016
19,558 clicks
Targeting: People interested in “Pan-Africanism, African-American Civil Rights Movement (1954-68), African-American history or Black(Color)”
December 2016
56,405 clicks
Targeting: People interested in La Raza as well as “Mexico, Latin hip-hop, Chicano Movement, Hispanidad, Lowrider or Chicano rap”
January 2017
15,590 clicks
Targeting: People interested in Jesus and “jesus love u or I Have Decided to Follow Jesus”
February 2017
49,197 clicks
Targeting: People 16 or older who are interested in “Black nationalism, Pan-Africanism, Police misconduct, African-American culture, African-American Civil Rights Movement (1954-68), African-American history, Black Consciousness Movement, Martin Luther King I, Stop Police Brutality or Black(Color)”
March 2017
16,760 clicks
Targeting: People interested in “Mexico, Latin hip-hop, ChicanoMovement, Hispanidad, Lowrider, Chicano rap or La Raza”
April 2017
30,775 clicks
Targeting: People interested in “Hispanic and latino-american culture, Mexico, Being Chicano, Mexican american culture, Hispanic culture, Latino culture, Latin hip hop, Chicano, Chicano Movement, Hispanidad, Mexican Pride, Lowrider, Chicano rap or La Raza”
May 2017
17,694 clicks
Targeting: People interested in “Hispanic and latino-american culture, Mexico, Being Chicano, Mexican american culture, Hispanic culture, Latino culture, Latin hip hop, Chicano, Chicano Movement, Hispanidad, Mexican Pride, Lowrider, Chicano rap or La Raza”
July 2017
291 clicks
Targeting: “Very conservative” Americans interested in “Stop Illegal Immigration, Laura Ingraham, Fox News Channel, Ron Paul, Tucker Carlson, Rand Paul, Christianity, Bill O’Reilly (political commentator), Rush Limbaugh, Andrew Breitbart, breitbart, Bible, Conservatism in the United States, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, Mike Pence, Michelle Malkin, Mike Huckabee, Jesus, The Blaze or Donald Trump Jr.”
August 2017
282 clicks
Targeting: “Very conservative” Americans interested in “Stop Illegal Immigration, Laura Ingraham, Fox News Channel, Ron Paul, Tucker Carlson, Rand Paul, Christianity, Bill O’Reilly (political commentator), Rush Limbaugh, Andrew Breitbart, breitbart, Bible, Conservatism in the United States, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, Mike Pence, Michelle Malkin, Mike Huckabee, Jesus, The Blaze or Donald Trump Jr.”