Please note: This article is satirical and for educational purposes. It showcases the strategies and tactics deployed by the Russian government to influence elections, including recently released screenshots of their ads and ad purchases.
Want to overthrow a foreign leader you just don’t agree with? Or want to take those pesky superpowers down a notch?
NOW YOU CAN — with Facebook Ads!
Yup, that’s right, you heard it here first. Gone are the days of using Facebook ads to grow your book club following, or share your favourite cat video. You can now use them for government takeovers… and it’s easy!
Getting Started
First, head over to Facebook Ads and click the green “+ create” button.
Next, under the Marketing Objective section – move on over to ‘Activism’ and click on ‘Influence Elections.’
Build Some Ads
You’ll then be brought to the ad creator, where you’ll need to build your ad campaigns. But what to build you may ask? We can help!
Creating ads to overthrow a government isn’t easy, but it can be done. Your goal as a ‘foreign entity’ is simply to influence the conversation and write ads in ways that will steer public opinion. Better yet, write ads to encourage people to join your cause by appealing to their primal fears… and then once they follow your page, keep stoking those fears with creative content purposely designed to achieve your political end goal.
Here are a few examples.
Write ads designed to align with your political goals, or write ads to encourage a further divide among your target country’s citizens.
Target freely
Next up is targeting. Facebook makes this easy by allowing you to target individuals who have expressed interest in content/celebrities online that aligns with your views. Just pick your poison and target away.
For those looking to take over the United States, Facebook has your back. They’ve added a specific setting just for this purpose (shown below). Unfortunately, for those looking to overthrow other countries elections, this added feature is not yet available.
Once you’re done, throw in your foreign credit card and submit your ads for review. Don’t worry; Facebook accepts payments from all around the world.
Sit back and relax, your overthrow is in good hands with Facebook.
Please note: This article is satirical. We’re sharing it not as a blueprint to promote activism, but as an awareness piece on how it was recently done in the American presidential election.
