U.S. 2020 Facebook Political Ad Holdout Experiment Participants

U.S. 2020 Facebook and Instagram Election Study data contains information on participants in a political advertising holdout experiment. It includes treatment assignments, engagement with civic content, and for control group participants, exposure to social issues, elections, and political ads. The study was conducted by Meta Platforms, Inc. in partnership with academic researchers.

Use Cases

• Analyze the relationship between treatment assignment and engagement with civic content on the platform.
• Compare exposure to social issues, elections, and political ads between treatment and control group participants.
• Study the impact of the ad holdout experiment on key political attitudes and behaviors during the 2020 U.S. election.

Strengths

• Data originates from a formal academic partnership between Meta Platforms, Inc. and researchers.
• Focuses on a specific and significant event: the U.S. 2020 election.
• Captures detailed experimental data including treatment assignment and participant engagement.

Limitations

• Specific data volume (rows, columns) and file formats are not provided.
• Sample data is unavailable for preview, limiting initial assessment of structure.
• The dataset's scope is geographically limited to the United States.

Provenance

Source

Meta Platforms, Inc.

Collection Method

Data from the U.S. 2020 Facebook and Instagram Election Study (FIES) partnership.

Time Range

U.S. 2020 election period.

Freshness

Last updated in February 2026.

Geography

United States