Facebook Ads From Unknown Backer Take Aim at Brexit Plan

The group behind the ads appears to be well funded. Based on what comparable political Facebook ad campaigns cost in the country, 89up estimated Mainstream Network spent £257,000, or about $335,000. Mainstream Network also maintains a polished website that mixes commentary favoring a hard break from the European Union, alongside straighter coverage of events such as Amazon’s announcement that it will add jobs in Britain.

Mainstream Network doesn’t give any clue of who is publishing the content. No contact information is listed on its website or Facebook page.

“There is no indication of who’s behind it, or who’s backing it,” Mr. Harris said in an interview. “This could be a wealthy individual, this could be a group of volunteers that has come together that decided to hide its identity, or it could be a foreign state. It’s totally unclear.”

The ads were disclosed at a politically fragile time in Britain, where Mrs. May is trying to balance the position of those who want to retain closer ties to the Continent against those who want a harder break.

Mainstream Network’s ads have strongly targeted Mrs. May’s central negotiating position, known as the “Chequers plan,” which would maintain a tight trading relationship with Europe. Two members of her cabinet resigned over her approach.

Pro-Brexit hard-liners want her to scrap the plan and propose a more distant relationship, like the European Union’s trade agreement with Canada.

The disclosures released on Saturday are a prelude to other investigations into online misinformation scheduled to be released by the end of the year. In addition to the parliamentary committee’s final report, highly anticipated findings are expected from the Information Commissioner’s Office after its investigation of Cambridge Analytica, the London-based political targeting firm that harvested the personal data of millions of Facebook users.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/19/technology/facebook-brexit-ads.html?partner=rss&emc=rss