Facebook Brexit ads secretly run by staff of Lynton Crosby firm
Exclusive: grassroots groups that spent up to £1m on targeted Facebook ads share administrator who works for lobbying firm
A series of hugely influential Facebook advertising campaigns that appear to be separate grassroots movements for a no-deal Brexit are secretly overseen by employees of Sir Lynton Crosbys lobbying company and a former adviser to Boris Johnson, documents seen by the Guardian reveal.
The mysterious groups, which have names such as Mainstream Network and Britains Future, appear to be run independently by members of the public and give no hint that they are connected. But in reality they share an administrator who works for Crosbys CTF Partners and have spent as much as £1m promoting sophisticated targeted adverts aimed at heaping pressure on individual MPs to vote for a hard Brexit.
Repeated questions have been raised about who is backing at least a dozen high-spending groups that have flooded MPs inboxes with calls to reject Theresa Mays deal. Until now they were thought to be independent entities.
But according to the documents, almost all the major pro-Brexit Facebook grassroots advertising campaigns in the UK share the same page admins or advertisers. These individuals include employees of CTF Partners and the political director of Boris Johnsons campaigns to be mayor of London, who has worked closely with Crosby in the past.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/apr/03/grassroots-facebook-brexit-ads-secretly-run-by-staff-of-lynton-crosby-firm