Recently, I gained access to a huge amount of audience and targeting data held by Meta, the company that runs Facebook and Instagram, known as its “Ad library” — political adverts, how they were targeted and who saw them. I already knew that authorities in the U.K. were devising highly targeted ads to shape behavior, using the immense amount of personal data Meta stores, from what you read and buy online to your exact physical location. Adopting better communication techniques is no bad thing in itself, but when I began to dig further, ominous campaigns began emerging, which used intimidating tactics to push their policy. To take just one example: The U.K. Home Office has been using Facebook and Instagram to target vulnerable refugees with threatening fear-based messages.