Ad Observer

A browser extension to share data about your social feed with researchers and journalists to increase transparency.

Ad Observer: Transparency to Social Media Ads

Ad Observer is a product of New York University's Online Political Ads Transparency Project. Formerly known as the Political Ad Collector, this browser extension works by collecting ads from a user's Facebook news feed, guessing which are political and contributing these to a database. It respects user privacy by not collecting personally identifiable information. The extension's primary purpose is facilitating research and journalism into Facebook, political messaging, and digital advertising strategies.

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Extension stats

By: The Facebook Political Ad Collector team

Users: 2,000+

Rating: 4.32

(28)

Version: 2.2.13 (ea4c344) (Last updated: 2022-11-09)

Version code: 2.2.13

Creation date: 2020-06-09

Permissions:

storage
unlimitedStorage

Size: 532.48K

Email: de*****@adobserver.org

URLs: Privacy policy

Full description: See detailed description

Ranking

# 18,625 ▲ 7

Other platforms

Not available on Android

Ad Observer (v3.2.14)

831 4.00

(23)

Not available on Edge

User reviews

These summaries are automatically generated weekly using AI based on recent user reviews. Chrome Web Store does not verify user reviews, so some user reviews may be inaccurate, spammy, or outdated.

Pros

Important tool for accountability regarding political advertising
Helps document political ads and deceptive advertising practices
Supports efforts of media organizations in reporting unethical advertising

Cons

Causes usability issues on Facebook, making it difficult to navigate
Introduces bugs that disrupt Chrome settings and browsing experience
Confusing interface with issues like not seeing the submit button

Most mentioned

Breaks Facebook functionality
Issues with Chrome startup settings
Great idea and cause but needs more stability and clear guidelines

User reviews

Alright.

Venator, 2020-07-11

An important tool for accountability - working for me with no disruptions to using facebook.

M R, 2019-09-17

Facebook is ruining democracy for profit and this app helps to document it.

Nicholas, 2018-10-30

View all user reviews

Extension safety

Risk impact

Ad Observer requires very minimum permissions.

Risk impact analysis details

High Injects scripts into web pages, which may alter or extract site contents, resulting in a substantial risk.
Low ******* ****** ** *** ********* ********

Risk likelihood

We don't have sufficient data to confidently determine the risk likelihood of Ad Observer. Use it at your own risk.

Risk likelihood analysis details

High This extension has low user count. Unpopular extensions may not be stable or safe.
Low **** ********* *** ******* **** **** * ****** **** ***** ******** *** **** ****** ** ** ****** *** *****
Low **** ********* *** ***** **** **** * ****** **** ***** ********** *** **** ****** ** ** ****** *** *****
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