the highly technical,
aggregate statistics that are the core of most transparency reports are not
necessarily useful in reducing the overall opacity of the system, where key
processes, protocols, and procedures remain secret. Finally, a major limitation
of the existing voluntary transparency measures, especially the advertising
transparency efforts that have clearly been crafted to supplant possible
regulatory regimes, is that these primarily public-facing tools may provide a
rich and informative resource for students, researchers, and journalists but are
notably less useful for regulators (e.g., electoral ofﬁcers). Certainly, while
Google’s new advertising library may be useful
for students trying to
understand attack ads, and may yield interesting tidbits worthy of investigation
for reporters, meaningful ad archives – whether fully public or only offering more
sensitive information to electoral ofﬁcials and trusted parties – need to
Social_Media_and_Democracy