What you need to know in advertising today

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Facebook said it has discovered roughly $100,000 in ad buys between June 2015 and May 2017 associated with roughly 3,000 ads. A number of these ads specifically targeted Michigan and Wisconsin, two states where US President Donald Trump won by approximately 10,700 votes and 22,700 votes, respectively.

The money spent may seem insignificant at first glance, but Facebook's advanced and granular targeting options may have given that dollar amount significant reach and engagement.

To see how easy it would be for just about anyone to use Facebook's targeting parameters to reach their desired audience, we asked three media agencies to come up with media plans and budgets — in this case specifically for someone looking to swing an election in Michigan and Wisconsin.

To read more about how easy it is fro someone to target you with ads on Facebook, click here.

In other news:

One ad executive estimated that the entire state of Michigan could have been swayed in the 2016 election for merely $42,800 on Facebook. According to Ben Kunz, EVP of marketing and content at media agency Mediassociates, it could have cost as little as $42,800 to swing the 10,700 Michigan voters that eventually tipped the scale in favor of Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential elections.

Speaking of Facebook, the company scrubbed potentially damning Russia data before researchers could analyze it further. The social network has deleted thousands of posts shared by Russia-linked accounts during the 2016 campaign.

Meanwhile, Sheryl Sandberg got everything wrong about Facebook's role as a media company. On Thursday, Sandberg, Facebook's chief operating officer, issued the latest such denial of the obvious, telling Axios editor Mike Allen that the social networking giant is not a media company.

Outcome Health, a hot $5 billion startup, reportedly misled its advertisers. According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, Outcome charged for more screen installations than it actually performed and employees reportedly doctored screenshots that were meant to show that certain ads had run in a particular doctor's office.

An Amazon Studios VP has been suspended following the claim they "ignored" a rape allegation.The suspension comes in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal.

Hearst is doubling down on Snapchat Discover for four of its publications including Harper's Bazaar. Each of the brands, including Bazaar, Esquire, Popular Mechanics and Road & Track averages at 2 million unique visitors per edition every week, according to Hearst.

Adobe says it will help advertisers and publishers find out if they are getting ripped off by ad tech companies. The company has signed contracts with 15 ad tech firms requiring them to disclose all their transaction fees.

Alphabet quietly made its experimental balloon project a full-fledged corporation — a first step to a new Google spinout. Project Loon, which develops solar-powered balloons that beam internet access down to earth, has been incorporated as Loon Inc, according to regulatory filings.

Under Armour isn't cool with teens anymore — and it's becoming a huge problem for the brand. According to Piper Jaffray's newest Taking Stock of Teens survey, Under Armour fell into 11th place in a ranking of preferred apparel brands among upper-income male teens.

Samsung Electronics' CEO has resigned due to "unprecedented crisis," the BBC reports. In August, the heir to the group was jailed for corruption.

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