This is great news. However, I saw the most ads on Youtube; it would be great if Google followed suit and released similar data.
I hope this sets a precedent for publishing ad spending in future referenda too.
I hope this sets a precedent for publishing ad spending in future referenda too.
Under pressure from Irish politicians and activists, including the non-partisan Transparent Referendum Institute, Google banned all referendum-linked advertising on its sites.
Did this only happen part way through? Or were people still advertising, Google just claimed they weren't?
The supporters of the 8th are highly organised, and motivated (as anyone would be if in their head they actually equated any and all abortion to killing of actual babies), and any revisitation had been continuously thwarted.
However, it's really in the last 5 years since the Death of Savita Halappanavar [0] that the issue took hold in the public consciousness, and campaigning really began in earnest.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Savita_Halappanavar