A 25,000 dollar ad buy moved turnout in a targeted Texas subset

Evidence

This study illustrates that just buying ads on Facebook isn’t enough to influence an election. Context matters. The message matters. The audience matters. But by uploading information on millions of voters, Facebook’s algorithm was able to micro-target and hone in on the audience most likely to be persuaded by an argument. In this case, if you wanted to increase turnout in Texas during the midterm election, then zooming in on competitive districts and subsequently targeting female voters specifically by talking about abortion rights was going to give you a significant edge. The whole campaign cost $25,000. — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 588