Facebook to publish political advertising data from 8th amendment referendum campaign

Facebook has agreed to publish data on political advertising during the abortion referendum campaign.

According to reports, the social media company will share details of pages associated with campaign groups and the amount they spent on ads.

It is understood Facebook will also reveal how many ads it blocked after introducing a ban on foreign organisations paying for ads.

According to Green Party leader Eamon Ryan, the decision sets an international precedent.

Deputy Ryan says he has been pushing the company for the past two months to provide transparency.

"We need to know what happened online during the referendum campaign," said Mr Ryan.

"Halfway through, Facebook and Google pulled foreign adverts and then all adverts in Google's case.

"We want to know is that because there was a wall of money coming in or was it similar to what happened in Brexit or in the Trump election where you had a huge amount of foreign money, hidden money trying to affect a campaign."

Digital Desk