Conservative fake news network uses Facebook ads to attack Senate Democrats

Metric Media LLC has spent $125,000+ using 39 different brands on Facebook to attack the Inflation Reduction Act, Democratic candidates

Metric Media, an opaque network of over 1,200 conservative local “news” brands, has recently begun spending on Facebook ads to promote its articles attacking Democrats ahead of the midterms. 

Using 39 different locality-specific sites like “Keystone Today,” “Old North News,” and “Peach Tree Times,” the company has spent over $125,000 to reach Facebook users with content in the past 90 days. Most of the group’s articles attack President Biden’s landmark Inflation Reduction Act legislation and aim to sink Democrats running in battleground states. The organization has dedicated the most ad dollars to Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia - home to some of the nation’s most competitive U.S. Senate races :

Many of Metric Media’s ads focus on issues common in Republican attack ads: the President’s student loan cancellation move, Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act, illegal immigration, and inflation. 

Metric Media is not new, and the company’s ties have been extensively reported in the past. However, this is the first time we have seen the group deploy a strategy of “boosting” its articles using paid advertising on Facebook. While $125,000 may be a drop in the bucket compared to many political Facebook advertisers, the breadth of the campaign - 39 different pages - is highly unusual.

It is currently unclear who is paying Metric Media to create and distribute this content.