Evidence of meeting #131 for Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was proud.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
The Ontario Proud Twitter account, which says it has 155,000 email supporters, is incorrect. Is that what you're saying today?
Lawyer and Director, Ontario Proud
No, I said it's approximately 100,000, so there may be more than that now. Whatever's on the Twitter account currently, in the biography, is accurate.
December 11th, 2018 / 11:10 a.m.
Lawyer and Director, Ontario Proud
There are approximately 7,000 or 8,000 followers on Instagram, and approximately 425,000 Facebook followers as well.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
Are we talking about personal information held on, say, about 600,000 Canadians, then?
Lawyer and Director, Ontario Proud
To the extent that someone “liking” a page constitutes holding their personal information, you could make that argument.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
Well, okay, let's talk about that, then.
What information do you have about the followers on your page?
Lawyer and Director, Ontario Proud
The name of the follower. If someone on Instagram, for example, follows Ontario Proud, we have their name or their handle.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
Have you used targeted advertising on Facebook previously?
Liberal
Lawyer and Director, Ontario Proud
I am not familiar with that terminology.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
Wait, you're a director of the self-proclaimed largest political Facebook platform in Canada and you don't know what a lookalike audience is?
Lawyer and Director, Ontario Proud
You can characterize a lookalike audience; I don't know what you're describing as a lookalike audience.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
It's a specific thing that Facebook allows for on its platform for advertising.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
Has Ontario Proud ever used Lookalike Audiences for advertising?
Lawyer and Director, Ontario Proud
For the benefit of the committee, can you define what you're describing by that? That would be appreciated.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
For the benefit of the committee, it's a term described by Facebook.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
Okay. Ontario Proud is able to upload a specific list of people to advertise to, based on Facebook profiles.
Lawyer and Director, Ontario Proud
If you're asking about micro-targeting, yes, we've engaged in micro-targeting.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
Okay. Once it's uploaded, it can target those people directly. Then the Lookalike Audiences that Facebook provides allows you to target people who look like those one thousand people whose profiles you've uploaded. Does Ontario Proud use Lookalike Audiences targeting?
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
Maybe you shouldn't be here today on behalf of Ontario Proud if you don't know what a lookalike audience is and you don't know if Ontario Proud has ever used Lookalike Audiences.
Who is Olivia?