Ad Observer

Political campaigns spend a lot of money to reach voters on Facebook. Are they telling the truth? Are they saying different things to different people? Help hold them accountable by installing our browser plugin, which sends us the ads you see on Facebook.
Active
In New York University
Open-source

Ad Observer is a tool you add to your Web browser. It copies the ads you see on Facebook and YouTube, so anyone can see them in our public database. (See documentation here.) If you want, you can enter basic demographic information about yourself in the tool to help improve our understanding of why advertisers targeted you. However, we’ll never ask for information that could identify you.

Ad Observer
Org. type: Academic / research organization
Project type: Tool or platform
Last modified: Jan 28, 2026 Added: May 9, 2022
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