
Labour HQ used Facebook ads to deceive Jeremy Corbyn during election campaign - AndrewBissell
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/labour-hq-used-facebook-ads-to-deceive-jeremy-corbyn-during-election-campaign-grlx75c27
======
culturestate
I used to do electoral politics for a living, and I think people would be
surprised at how often this kind of thing happens.

In the "old" days, if a candidate wanted to run a campaign that we thought was
a waste of money, we'd buy a few billboards on the route from the candidate's
house to their office or campaign HQ. We'd make sure those neighborhoods were
carpeted with yard signs.

Facebook wasn't yet a behemoth back then, but we did the same with ad buys
during specific TV slots - a practice now being used by lobbyists to reach the
current occupant of the White House.

You have to manage up in political campaigns just as much as you do in
corporate life.

~~~
AndrewBissell
It's hard to see this as "managing up" given the broader Labour Leaks context:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22858570](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22858570)

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jonplackett
The simplest solve to FB manipulation in general is just to ban the targeting
of political advertising. You can still advertise, but everyone sees the same
message. No more deception. Facebook even makes MORE money because the more
targeted a campaign is the cheaper it is. Everyone wins, except political
campaign managers.

~~~
bcyn
What makes you believe campaign managers would continue advertising on FB if
targeting options were removed? They might explore other advertising mediums
that are more effective ROI due to targeting.

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jonplackett
As a paid up labour member this makes me sad and angry. Who are these people
misusing the money I gave to them? I want to see them publicly outed.

~~~
lonelappde
Are you a Labour member or a Corbyn member? Why is it misuse?

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justinclift
[https://archive.vn/HuMeO](https://archive.vn/HuMeO)

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bArray
Please mark 2018

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pmachinery
In case anyone (else) is wondering why a right-wing Tory supporting organ of
Rupert Murdoch would effectively defend Corbyn and his policies by implying
Labour was recently defeated because it secretly promoted right-wing policies
to the voters, this story is from 2018.[0]

To be fair, it's not (overtly) trying to make the reverse claim but mostly
sticking to the point about political advertising.

> "Corbyn’s aides sometimes demanded big spending on Facebook advertising for
> pet projects which Southsiders [officials at Labour HQ] regarded as a _waste
> of money_ " Baldwin writes.

> He quotes an official explaining: "They wanted us to spend a fortune on some
> schemes like the one they had to _encourage voter registration_ "

[...]

> A Labour source said [in response to this activity]: "At the next election,
> we’ll have a fantastic and co-operative party machine to match our
> incredible mass membership and popular policies.”

Unfortunately for Corbyn by the next election (three years earlier than
expected) the attacks and undermining had got drastically more abusive and
destructive, and the kind of people who think voter registration is a waste of
money are now back in control of Labour.

In the 2019 election it was reported that "almost every Tory [Facebook ad was]
dishonest, compared with none of Labour's"[1]; or as reported by the BBC -
brazenly pro-Tory in the election[2] - _dishonesty "across the party
spectrum"[3]_.

[0] [http://archive.is/HuMeO](http://archive.is/HuMeO)

[1] [https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-
tech/ne...](https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-
tech/news/general-election-boris-johnson-conservatives-labour-corbyn-facebook-
ads-a9241781.html)

[2]
[https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/03/electi...](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/03/election-
coverage-bbc-tories)

[3]
[https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-50726500](https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-50726500)

~~~
jpz
I suppose that this "right-wing Tory supporting organ of Rupert Murdoch" is
"effectively defend[ing] Corbyn and his policies" for a simple reason - it's
fun to stir the Labour party up.

In truth, electorally the Tories would far rather face Corbyn and the tankies
at each election. Starmer looks like he's going to be a far greater challenge.
It is good however that there is a functioning opposition that will apply
effective scrutiny now, as that is good for governance, whether you're on the
left or the right of things.

~~~
sudosysgen
Corbyn is absolutely not a tankie, he's a social Democrat.

If you've learn a bit of history, tell me, once capitalism starts degenerating
and the left gets kneecap by the center, what exactly is it that happened?
What happened when the SPD alienated the KPD and it's own left wing in order
to triangulate itself into having slightly more votes?

What you're seeing is party infighting that likely cost Corbyn the 2018
election, and if you think that suppressing the left is going to be a viable
tactic as you just need to compromise ever more with the right, I'd suggest
opening your favourite history manual to Germany in 1929 :). Because that
really, really doesn't end well.

~~~
jpz
He may not be a tankie, but all his best friends are, such as Milne, etc. If
you note my grammatical construction I did not call him a tankie.

Regarding the Weimar Republic, I don’t know the history So your analogy is
wasted on me, but to suggest the Tories are proto-Nazis seems absurd to me.

~~~
sudosysgen
You should read about it. The Tories may not be proto-fascist, but the
willingness of the entire political system to compromise towards the right is
what meant that fascist uprisings were successful in the 1930s and not when
they tried earlier (it was shut down by the KPD and SPD prior to it)

------
pnako
A party leader manipulated by his own party, during a campaign. Now that's
election manipulation!

Have we figured out which foreign power did that?

~~~
SpicyLemonZest
You joke, but this does smell pretty severely of corruption. Corbyn is very
unpopular with the Labour establishment.

~~~
gm3dmo
Corbyn was elected Labour leader in 2015, reelected in 2016 and subsequently
lost 2 general elections and torched 8% of the Labour vote. It's abundantly
clear that his unpopularity extends to a much wider group than the Labour
establishment.

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_history_of_Jeremy_...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_history_of_Jeremy_Corbyn)

~~~
AndrewBissell
Labour came _very_ close to winning in 2017, a fact which your rather terse
summary glosses over. Who knows what might have happened if the Blairite right
wing of the Labour Party hadn't been actively sabotaging Corbyn's campaign.

~~~
Wildgoose
Labour may have done much better than expected in 2017, but they were still
55+ seats behind the Tories, which is nothing like very close to winning.

The Tories won 317 seats (318 including the Speaker), while Labour won 262
seats.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_United_Kingdom_general_el...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_United_Kingdom_general_election)

~~~
sudosysgen
Parliamentary elections are more complicated than that, had Labour won three
or four most seats they would have likely been in power as a coalition with
other parties of the left. This might have quite literally cost Labour the
election.

~~~
thu2111
Has Labour ever been in coalition with anyone for an extended period?

Reality is Labour lost the election despite going up against an incredibly
weak opposition and basically refusing to discuss or take a position on
Brexit, which was an irresponsible form of electioneering. When faced with a
competent opposition they took the same approach and were wiped out. That's on
Corbyn.

~~~
AndrewBissell
I tend to agree that Corbyn trying to straddle the Remain/Leave camps may have
been a fatal error, but who knows whether he would have felt it necessary if
he had not been kneecapped in 2017 and won the election. One also shouldn't
dismiss the role of the UK press in amplifying "anti-Semitism" and various
other smears (like the "tankie" used on this very thread) against Corbyn.

