Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41772056›Full record

ArticleNature human behaviour2026

The effects of political advertising on Facebook and Instagram before the 2020 US election.

Hunt Allcott, Matthew Gentzkow, Ro'ee Levy, Adriana Crespo-Tenorio, Natasha Dumas, Winter Mason, Devra Moehler, Pablo Barberá, Taylor Brown, Juan Carlos Cisneros and 23 more

Abstract read
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Nature human behaviour, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

33 authors.

Hunt AllcottDepartment of Economics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
Matthew GentzkowDepartment of Economics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA. gentzkow@stanford.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7758-8656
Ro'ee LevySchool of Economics, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7351-8554
Adriana Crespo-TenorioMeta, Menlo Park, CA, USA.
Natasha DumasMeta, Menlo Park, CA, USA.
Winter MasonMeta, Menlo Park, CA, USA.
Devra MoehlerMeta, Menlo Park, CA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3631-8630
Pablo BarberáMeta, Menlo Park, CA, USA.
Taylor BrownMeta, Menlo Park, CA, USA.
Juan Carlos CisnerosDepartment of Economics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0006-4355-9711
Drew DimmeryMeta, Menlo Park, CA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9602-6325
Deen FreelonAnnenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Sandra González-BailónAnnenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8372-798X
Andrew M GuessDepartment of Politics and School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2974-7848
Young Mie KimSchool of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
David LazerNULab of Texts, Maps, and Networks, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7991-9110
Neil MalhotraGraduate School of Business, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4477-6049
Sameer Nair-DesaiDepartment of Economics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6780-2591
Brendan NyhanDepartment of Government, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA.
Ana Carolina Paixao de QueirozDepartment of Economics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
Jennifer PanDepartment of Communication, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4818-0122
Jaime SettleGovernment Department and Data Science, William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA, USA.
Emily ThorsonDepartment of Political Science, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, USA.
Rebekah TrombleSchool of Media and Public Affairs and Institute for Data, Democracy, and Politics, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3875-2729
Carlos Velasco RiveraMeta, Menlo Park, CA, USA.
Benjamin WittenbrinkDepartment of Economics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
Magdalena WojcieszakDepartment of Communication, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5456-4483
Shiqi YangDepartment of Economics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
Saam ZahedianDepartment of Economics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
Annie FrancoMeta, Menlo Park, CA, USA.
Chad Kiewiet de JongeMeta, Menlo Park, CA, USA.
Natalie Jomini StroudMoody College of Communication, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3528-9986
Joshua A TuckerWilf Family Department of Politics and Center for Social Media and Politics, New York University, New York, NY, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1321-8650

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

We study the effects of social media political advertising by randomizing subsets of 36,906 Facebook users and 25,925 Instagram users to have political ads removed from their news feeds for 6 weeks before the 2020 US presidential election. We show that most presidential ads were targeted towards parties' own supporters and that fundraising ads were the most common. On both Facebook and Instagram, we found no detectable effects of removing political ads on political knowledge, polarization, perceived legitimacy of the election, political participation (including campaign contributions), candidate favourability and turnout. This was true overall and for both Democrats and Republicans separately.

Indexed as

AdvertisingPoliticsSocial MediaHumansUnited StatesVoting

Identifiers

PMID41772056

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.