Meta -- the only major social media company allowing political ads ahead of the midterm elections -- earned over $1.5 million in just the past week from top right-leaning advertisers, some of which make misleading claims. Even though Meta will no longer allow new political ads before Election Day, the company will continue to allow advertisers to run ads and will make a profit, including on ads that contain false or misleading information. 

On November 1, Meta began prohibiting new political ads until Election Day to allow “additional time for scrutiny of issue, electoral, and political ads.” New ads cannot be created during this restriction period, but Meta has stipulated that if an ad earned an impression before the cut off, “candidates running for office and other organizations can continue running these ads through the restriction period to share their closing arguments and mobilize voters.” 

Media Matters has already reported on Meta’s failure ahead of the 2022 midterm elections to enforce its policies around political ads that contain claims that have been rated as “false” or “mostly false” by third-party fact-checkers and ads that baselessly slander LGBTQ people as “groomers.” 

Now, we have found that during the week before Meta’s restriction period on political ads began, the company has allowed over 1,200 ads from top right-leaning pages, some of which contain misleading narratives, and earned over $1.5 million from them. 

Using the Meta Ad Library Report, Media Matters has identified the following right-leaning advertisers that spent the most money on political ads in the last week (from October 23 through October 29): 

Americans for Prosperity (AFP) Action 

Conservative super PAC AFP Action has run 672 ads in the past week, spending a total of over $456,000. These ads push right-leaning narratives including claims that voters must elect Republican candidates to save the filibuster and stop “radical changes like court packing.” They also claim that these candidates will “fight back against the reckless policies that have caused INFLATION to go out of control!”

Greg Abbott 

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has spent $320,000 on 55 new ads in the last week, most of which attack his opponent in the gubernatorial race, Beto O’Rourke. These ads, in both English and Spanish, include claims that O’Rourke wants to raise taxes for “every Texan,” wants “open borders,” and also suggest that he wants to undo the work Texas has done to “strengthen our border,” and to “defund & dismantle the police.” The claim that O’Rourke is in favor of defunding the police is false, and based on a quote that was “deceptively edited” according to a CNN fact-check. 

Citizens for Sanity 

Citizens for Sanity -- a conservative non-profit organization founded by former Trump officials -- has run 29 ads that cost over $338,000 in the past week. Many of these ads attack Pennsylvania Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate John Fetterman, claiming that he is “helping killers kill again” and that he wants to “open our jails.” They also attack Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) for putting “criminals first” and claim that Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) “means open borders” and “more murders.” While right-wing media and politicians have attempted to paint many Democratic candidates as dangerously soft on crime, the reality is that crime rates are the same and in some cases higher in GOP controlled areas. 

Americans for Prosperity (AFP) 

Americans for Prosperity, a Koch-backed conservative non-profit, ran a total of 366 ads in the past week, which cost over $196,000. These ads -- which are similar to ads from its affiliate, AFP Action -- primarily promote various GOP candidates, claiming that they will “fight inflation.”

American Encore

American Encore -- a conservative Koch-connected group  formerly named the Center to Protect Patient Rights -- ran 81 ads in the past week, spending over $208,000 on them. The ads primarily attack Arizona Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate Mark Kelly, while promoting his Republican opponent Blake Masters. These include an ad containing an image of a billboard thanking Kelly for “voting to keep our borders open,” and that “the drugs aren’t going to smuggle themselves.”