Professional media outlets that practice the use of good journalism follow an ethical code of conduct that include the principles based on the organizations core values and standards. When receiving political news, political campaigning, and calls to action you know that the information is accurate and it is being upheld through the ethical code of conduct. However, it is now estimated that more than 2/3 of U.S. adults receive the majority of their political news from social media outlets. Social media outlets are not regulated which poses the question what are the ethics of social media use in politics? Campaigning for 2016 election Donald Trump’s campaigning team spent over 44 million dollars on micro-targeting Facebook ads. Facebook used user data that they have collected to successfully target these ads to people that they would be most susceptible to. This micro-targeted advertising on social media was highly effective in persuading undecided voters to support Trump, as well as in convincing Republican supporters to turn out on polling day. It appears this socialization tool is now turning into a political weapon that sells personal data to politicians. Facebook is in the mists of many privacy and ethical controversaries. This leads me to pose the question is it ethical for Facebook to use their user data to adequality target political campaigning ads?

The power that these social media platforms have in their ability to shift politics is enormous. Facebook certainly contributed to Donald Trump’s election. Facebook was able to successfully micro target their users with these campaign ads based on data that showed gender, age, location, political history/beliefs, income, and purchasing habits. This along with algorithms allowed Facebook to create voter lists. We must question whether or not it is ethical for Facebook to use this information in this way and whether it infringes upon citizens privacy. This also raises issues about users informed consent and tracking.

https://www.cbc.ca/passionateeye/m_features/how-facebook-was-harnessed-to-micro-target-voters-and-promote-donald-trump

https://phys.org/news/2018-11-impact-facebook-advertising-elections.html