Advertisers Jump on Coronavirus Bandwagon: Politics, News, and Business

TL;DR

This paper analyzes how various sectors used Facebook advertisements during COVID-19 to promote narratives, including misinformation, political attacks, and commercial messages, highlighting the role of social media in shaping public discourse during crises.

Contribution

It introduces a new dataset of COVID-19 related Facebook ads, revealing the diverse actors and messages, including misinformation, used during the pandemic.

Findings

Ads from health, political, and commercial sectors incorporated COVID-19 themes.

Instances of misinformation and conspiracy theories were identified.

The dataset is made publicly available for further research.

Abstract

In the age of social media, disasters and epidemics usher not only a devastation and affliction in the physical world, but also prompt a deluge of information, opinions, prognoses and advice to billions of internet users. The coronavirus epidemic of 2019-2020, or COVID-19, is no exception, with the World Health Organization warning of a possible "infodemic" of fake news. In this study, we examine the alternative narratives around the coronavirus outbreak through advertisements promoted on Facebook, the largest social media platform in the US. Using the new Facebook Ads Library, we discover advertisers from public health and non-profit sectors, alongside those from news media, politics, and business, incorporating coronavirus into their messaging and agenda. We find the virus used in political attacks, donation solicitations, business promotion, stock market advice, and animal rights campaigning. Among these, we find several instances of possible misinformation, ranging from bioweapons conspiracy theories to unverifiable claims by politicians. As we make the dataset available to the community, we hope the advertising domain will become an important part of quality control for public health communication and public discourse in general.