ADM+S researcher informs Senate inquiry of ‘astroturfing’ and hidden political advertising online
Author
Date 7 October 2025
Prof Daniel Angus from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society has told a parliamentary inquiry that Australia urgently needs stronger rules to ensure observability around online political advertising, warning that well-financed lobby groups are using covert tactics to shape public opinion.
Prof Angus highlighted the Centre’s research into digital advertising and the risks posed by what he described as “blind spots in platform observability.”
“Our research revealed how coordinated, well-financed actors can quietly steer public debate while evading meaningful disclosure and regulatory scrutiny,” he said. “Similar tactics operate year-round across major policy debates including energy policy.”
As part of the Centre’s Australian Ad Observatory, researchers recruited more than 100 citizens who used a custom mobile app to donate the ads they encountered on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Within four weeks, over 22,000 ads were collected, including hundreds of political advertisements.
Prof Angus explained that some campaigns use “astroturfing” tactics, where lobby groups disguise themselves as grassroots community organisations to sway public opinion.
“It’s political advertising in disguise – what looks like a local community group may in fact be a well-funded industry or lobby organisation,” he said.
The inquiry heard examples from the last federal election, including groups such as Australians for Natural Gas and Mums for Nuclear, which appeared suddenly during the campaign period and spent tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars on advertising.
The ADM+S submission calls for:
- National and political advertising provisions;
- Strengthening of real-time disclosure of third-party funding;
- Mandated platform data access modelled after but extending the European Digital Services Act, the DSA, and;
- Sustained public investment in independent monitoring to safeguard democratic transparency.
Prof Angus emphasised that such reforms are essential to safeguard democratic transparency.
“Without greater observability, we risk allowing hidden interests to distort public debate in ways that Australians cannot easily detect or contest,” he said.
