Speaker
Description
AdDownloader is a Python package for downloading advertisements and their media content from the Meta Online Ad Library. With a valid Meta developer access token, AdDownloader automates the process of downloading relevant ads data and storing it in a user-friendly format. Additionally, AdDownloader uses individual ad links from the downloaded data to access each ad's media content (i.e. images and videos) and stores it locally. The package also offers various analytical functionalities, such as topic modelling of ad text and image captioning using AI, embedded in a Dashboard. AdDownloader can be run as a Command-Line Interface or imported as a Python package, providing a flexible and intuitive user experience. The source code is currently stored on Github, and can be reused for further research under the GPL-3.0 license. Applications range from understanding the effectiveness and transparency of online political campaigns to monitoring the exposure of different population groups to the marketing of harmful substances. This paper applies AdDownloader's functionalities to the US General 2020 Elections as a case study.
| Type of presentation | Talk |
|---|---|
| Classification | Mainly methodology |
| Keywords | CLI tool, Meta Ad Library, image scraping |