The young Americans trying to stop Ireland from voting Yes to abortion

The young Americans trying to stop Ireland from voting Yes to abortion

By Kara Fox, CNN
Wed May 23, 2018

Dublin (CNN) Emily Faulkner is in central Dublin, handing out leaflets featuring fetuses in various stages of development, when she's pelted by an egg.

Covered in yolk, she turns to her fiancé, Nathan Berning, who has a GoPro video camera mounted on his chest.

"Did you get that on tape? Is it on, babe? Turn it on," she says.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/23/europe/ireland-abortion-referendum-american-campaigners-intl/index.html


Social media under microscope in emotive Irish abortion vote

Social media under microscope in emotive Irish abortion vote

21 May 2018

DUBLIN (AP) — In homes and pubs, on leaflets and lampposts, debate is raging in Ireland over whether to lift the country's decades-old ban on abortion. Pro-repeal banners declare: "Her choice: vote yes." Anti-abortion placards warn against a "license to kill."

Online, the argument is just as charged — and more shadowy, as unregulated ads of uncertain origin battle to sway voters before Friday's referendum, which could give Irish women the right to end their pregnancies for the first time.

Continued: http://www.samoaobserver.ws/en/22_05_2018/world/33318/Social-media-under-microscope-in-emotive-Irish-abortion-vote.htm


Ireland – Una Mullally: What was No side up to online that was so crucial?

Una Mullally: What was No side up to online that was so crucial?
Reaction to Facebook and Google referendum ad ban is tactic straight out of Trump playbook

May 11, 2018
Una Mullally

The issue of dubious online campaigning, which for so long was flagged by observers in the run up to the abortion referendum, snapped into focus this week.

While legislators had plenty of time since 2016 to tackle the potential impact of online campaigning or online interference in our democratic process, the digital space remained unregulated as the referendum campaign kicked off.

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/abortion-referendum/una-mullally-what-was-no-side-up-to-online-that-was-so-crucial-1.3491739


Google bans Irish abortion referendum adverts

Google bans Irish abortion referendum adverts
Decision two weeks before polling day comes amid fears that overseas organisations are targeting voters

Jim Waterson, Media editor
Wed 9 May 2018

Google has banned all adverts relating to the Irish abortion referendum from its platform, amid fears of overseas organisations taking advantage of loopholes in campaign funding laws to target voters before polling day.

The decision will mean an end to advertisements relating to the referendum appearing alongside Google results and on YouTube during the final fortnight of the campaign.

continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/09/google-bans-irish-abortion-referendum-adverts


Facebook stops accepting foreign-funded ads about Ireland’s abortion vote

Facebook stops accepting foreign-funded ads about Ireland’s abortion vote

Natasha Lomas
May 8, 2018

Facebook has announced it has stopped accepting ads paid for by foreign entities that are related to a referendum vote in Ireland later this month, saying it’s acting to try to prevent outsiders from attempting to skew the vote. The referendum will decide whether to repeal or retain Ireland’s constitutional ban on abortion.

“Concerns have been raised about organisations and individuals based outside of Ireland trying to influence the outcome of the referendum on the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution of Ireland by buying ads on Facebook. This is an issue we have been thinking about for some time,” the company writes today on its Dublin blog.

Continued: https://techcrunch.com/2018/05/08/facebook-stops-accepting-foreign-funded-ads-about-irelands-abortion-vote/


Facebook launches transparency tool for Irish abortion vote

Facebook launches transparency tool for Irish abortion vote

30 Apr 2018

A new tool from Facebook that allows users in Ireland to view the sources of sponsored posts ahead of a referendum on abortion rights fails the test of true transparency on the platform, say critics.

Launched initially on April 25 as part of a transparency pilot program, the View Ads feature shows Irish users all ads any Facebook page is promoting to people in Ireland, even if those ads are not in their individual news feed.

Continued: https://www.wikitribune.com/story/2018/04/30/internet/facebook-launches-transparency-tool-in-ireland-for-abortion-vote/68061/


American Pro-Lifers Are Using Facebook To Sway Ireland’s Abortion Debate

American Pro-Lifers Are Using Facebook To Sway Ireland's Abortion Debate

By Jason Murdock
On 4/26/18

Facebook accounts managed by pro-life activists living in the U.S. are reportedly being used to influence the opinions of voters ahead of Ireland’s May 25 referendum on repealing the country’s strict abortion ban.

On Wednesday, Facebook launched a new transparency tool in Ireland designed to provide clarity over how ads are served, but admitted that because it was still in the pilot stage it would not yet show who was funding them.

Continued: http://www.newsweek.com/american-pro-lifers-are-using-facebook-sway-irelands-abortion-debate-902355


Irish abortion vote tests Facebook and campaign data

Irish abortion vote tests Facebook and campaign data

Facebook is rolling out transparency measures during the Irish campaign to see what happens when all users can see political advertising.

By Sarah Wheaton and Mark Scott
4/24/18

DUBLIN — Ireland’s soul-searching debate over whether to change its constitution and allow women to terminate their pregnancies coincides with a ballooning transatlantic scandal surrounding Facebook and the use of personal data in political advertising.

Irish voters go to the polls May 25 to decide whether to repeal the country’s abortion ban. With the campaign heating up, lawmakers hauled Facebook executives before parliament to grill them about how to prevent people’s personal information from being used to manipulate them online.

Continued: https://www.politico.eu/article/ireland-abortion-referendum-may-25-facebook-advertising-save-the-8th-repeal-the-8th/


Ireland – Abortion fake-news firestorm heading our way

Fintan O’Toole: Abortion fake-news firestorm heading our way
Why has Save the 8th hired consultant at heart of Trump-Mercer-Brexit data nexus?

March 27, 2018
Fintan O'Toole

If you like my stuff you’re an ignoramus. Many people would agree with this as a general proposition, but I mean it in a more specific sense. If you’ve ever liked or shared one of my columns online, data-analysis firms probably identify you as a hopeless lefty liberal. And you will therefore be ignorant of the big social-media campaign against the repeal of the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution, which bans abortion in almost all circumstances. That campaign will be modelled on those that helped both Donald Trump and Brexit to victory. It will use microtargeting to direct specific messages to those who can be most easily swayed by them. You won’t see them – and as things stand Irish regulations will do nothing to control them.

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/fintan-o-toole-abortion-fake-news-firestorm-heading-our-way-1.3440927