Get ready to be shocked. Another “mistake” by a social media company just so happened to benefit Democrats heading into an election. Isn’t it so weird how that keeps happening?
In this case, Snap (formerly known as Snapchat), says it “inadvertently” exposed collected data on Republican voters to Democrat firms. Those firms then used that data to target political ads before the mid-terms.
Axios has the story, though they frame it exactly as you’d expect.
A slip-up by social media giant Snap allowed leading Democratic campaigns and party committees to unwittingly tap into a vast repository of Republican voter data to hone their midterm ads, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: There’s no indication Snap was aware of or facilitated that data sharing, and the company said it’s taking steps to rectify the oversight. But the blunder underscores the sensitivities surrounding reams of voter data that have become a highly valuable political commodity.
According to the report, Snap allowed Democrat organizations to access the voter data of Republican-allied firm i360, which was founded by Charles Koch. That means those Democrat organizations could then hone their campaign ads to target specific voters who are deemed to be persuadable.
Snap provided this statement in response.
“Unfortunately, due to an internal mistake, we didn’t follow this usual process — which resulted in these two companies’ services being used by advertisers outside of the process, impacting a small number of ads,” a Snap spokesperson told Axios.