Resources

Tools

  • Ad Observatory

    Ad Observatory–now available in Spanish and English–is a project of NYU Cybersecurity for Democracy and provides access to explore political advertising across Meta, including Facebook and Instagram. Search by keywords, a topic, sponsor, or region to see an analysis on spend, messaging trends, and more. Learn about Ad Observatory and how to use it for investigations.

  • Ad Observer

    Help out by contributing your Facebook and YouTube ads by installing the Ad Observer plug-in tool.

Research

Data Sets

  • Ad Observer Data

    Public dataset of political ads observed by users of our browser extension.

  • Facebook Ad Library Data

    Public dataset of ads we have collected from Facebook’s Ad Library for the US, Canada, and the UK. Access is limited to verified academic researchers and journalists who have access to Facebook’s Ad Library API, and managed by Harmony Labs.

  • Facebook Transparency Reports

    Public dataset of historical transparency reports published by Facebook.

Code

  • Github

    Open-source code for Ad Observatory, our analysis and data collection.

Tutorial Videos