Dark Money’s Digital Megaphone
Also inside: GOP candidates take to ads to tout their Trump endorsements, young people want credit when they start viral trends, and more
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It is a pretty well-established fact at this point that Koch-backed organizations fuel GOP campaigning – and that is especially true on digital. And you may be asking: if it’s so well-known, why do we need to talk about it? Because I think people are aware that the Koch network spends heavily on digital advertising for right-wing causes and candidates – but I don’t think people know just how extensive an operation it is.
More on that below, but first…
Digital ad spending, by the numbers:
FWIW, U.S. political advertisers spent about $10 million on Facebook and Instagram ads last week. Here were the top ten spenders nationwide:
I want to zoom out for a second: looking back to the beginning of the year, remember that many prominent Democrats were using their campaign disclaimers to run ads calling out the Trump administration. It’s interesting to me that that trend seems to have diminished over the past several weeks – and I wonder to what extent we’ll see it re-surge (and who we’ll see partaking in it) this summer, especially as we head towards the conclusion of the SCOTUS term.
In other updates, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network spent ~$81,000 on Facebook + Instagram ads this past week containing thinly-veiled pushback against congressional Republicans. The ads express that cutting Medicaid and other similar programs will put cancer patients at risk and ask people to share their stories of how Medicaid covered their cancer care.
Meanwhile, political advertisers spent just over $2.1 million on Google and YouTube ads last week. These were the top ten spenders nationwide:
Karrin for Arizona, the campaign seeking to elect Republican Karrin Taylor Robson as AZ’s governor in 2026, spent over $43,000 on Google + YouTube ads this past week, touting that Robson has Trump’s endorsement. For those counting… this election is ~545 days away, but is currently one of only two toss-up gubernatorial races this cycle.
On X (formerly Twitter), political advertisers in the U.S. have spent around $3 million on ads in 2025. According to X’s political ad disclosure, here are the top spenders year to date:
…and lastly, on Snapchat, political advertisers in the U.S. have spent around $699,600 on ads in 2025. Here are the top spenders year to date:
A few weeks ago, I wrote about how crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs), also known as anti-abortion centers, were flooding Snapchat with potentially misleading ads targeted at young women and teenagers. This week, at least three new CPCs started running Snap ads in Washington, New Hampshire, and New York.
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Dark Money’s Digital Megaphone
New reporting from the Brennan Center for Justice this week found that dark money hit an all-time high with the 2024 federal elections, clocking in at $1.9 billion in total. Despite the secrecy surrounding these groups – on both sides – it should be noted that we are very aware of several key players in this realm.
The Koch network, created by Charles Koch and his late brother, David Koch, constitutes one of these key players – and that’s what I want to take a look at today. It is a pretty well-established fact at this point that Koch-backed organizations fuel GOP campaigning – and that is especially true on digital.
And you may be asking: if it’s so well-known, why do we need to talk about it? Because I think people are aware that the Koch network spends heavily on digital advertising for right-wing causes and candidates – but I don’t think people know just how extensive an operation it is. And with these things, I think it’s always helpful to see the actual numbers.
Looking at our last major election year of 2024, Koch-backed organizations were as prolific as ever. Their two main (and related) organizations that spend on digital political advertising are Americans for Prosperity and Americans for Prosperity (or AFP) Action, with the American Prosperity Alliance being another that seems to be more in play now in 2025 than it was in 2024.
Starting over on Facebook + Instagram (which gives you an approximate range of what an advertiser’s spend was – for this analysis, I used the lowest number of the range), Americans for Prosperity appears to have spent at least $6,270,000 in 2024 and AFP Action appears to have spent at least $7,330,000, bring their total for political ads on Facebook and Instagram in 2024 to at least a whopping $13,600,000.
The ads run literally all over the country – but mostly involve themselves with key Republican issues like energy, Senate campaigns, and the presidential campaign (but it’s worth noting, the Koch network doesn’t – or, at least, didn’t – actually like Trump himself). For FB + IG ads, these Koch-backed organizations appear to have targeted swing states like Nevada, Pennsylvania, Montana, and North Carolina the most. Here’s a look at what they were running:
And looking over at Google + YouTube political ads, we see a very similar picture. Americans for Prosperity spent $2,860,700 in 2024, and Americans for Prosperity Action spent $9,310,900, bringing the total to $12,171,600. The main states they targeted with Google + YouTube ads were the battlegrounds of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Here are two examples of some of the ads they put the most money behind:
And there’s actually one more digital advertising platform we need to talk about: the Koch-backed organizations also advertised on X/Twitter in 2024, with @AFPAction spending $375,200 on political ads on the platform.
In sum, bringing all of this together, it appears that Koch-backed organizations spent, at minimum, $26,146,800 on digital political ads supporting Republican causes and candidates in 2024 alone. And they’re showing no signs of stopping… they’ve already spent $1.4 million on Google + YouTube political ads alone in 2025.
This Is Our Promise To You
Since day one, we’ve guaranteed 100% or more ROI on every invoice every time. We know that clients starting at a smaller scale are underserved in our industry, so they need to know that their money is well spent. That’s why we make this offer to all of our clients, big and small. Reach out to Ripple On Impact today to get started >>.
More from around the internet:
- is out with an interesting piece in Embedded unpacking why young people – who are seemingly less and less likely to own any physical property – are becoming highly protective of their intellectual property, especially if it goes viral.
Trump stated that he would push back the TikTok deadline once again if no deal was reached by June 19th… and TikTok is apparently telling its US advertisers that it isn’t going anywhere.
Podcasters rejoice: Spotify will now let people see how many times an episode has been listened to on their platform.
Apparently (and probably to no one’s surprise), being on the gym bro side of TikTok and using anabolic steroids to get “swole” is providing men with a one-way ticket to the far-right manosphere.
Reminder to not be like Tulsi Gabbard and follow best practices for passwords!
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