Gizmodo Ads Target Potential Trump Leakers

By Lukas I. Alpert

With the Trump administration proving to be a leaky ship in its early days, one news outlet is launching an ad blitz to find the next Deep Throat.

The Gizmodo Media Group's investigative team has taken to buying highly-targeted Facebook ads to steer potential leakers to a new website, TellOnTrump.com, which lays out a variety of secure methods to pass on sensitive information.

"One thing we know about Donald Trump is that there are a lot of things Donald Trump doesn't want people to know about. If you've reached this page, you might have information about the conduct of Donald Trump or his administration that you'd like people to know about. Here's how you can tell us," the site explains.

The Univision Communications Inc.-owned media group, which operates sites like Fusion and the former Gawker Media sites like Gizmodo, Deadspin and Jezebel, started running ads on the social media platform within the last week that specifically target people who list certain government agencies as their employers. The ads don't specify which news outlet is running the campaign, but the site which the ads point to clearly identifies the Gizmodo special projects desk.

"We are targeting people who are employed by federal agencies because we want them to know that if they see or know about something they think is newsworthy, we are here for them," said John Cook, Gizmodo's head of investigations.

Mr. Cook said Gizmodo is also working to purchase bus shelter ads near certain government agencies in Washington, D.C., encouraging people to contact them with information about the Trump administration.

The ads encouraging people to securely and anonymously send tips and documents come as Mr. Trump continues to lash out at the news media and the intelligence community. At a news conference Wednesday, Mr. Trump blasted intelligence agencies, saying: "papers are being leaked, things are being leaked, it's criminal action, criminal act, and it's been going on for a long time."

Gizmodo's efforts certainly aren't the first time that the increasingly granular targeting ability of Facebook's advertising has been used in such a specific way. Hyper-targeted political ads were abundant in the run up to the elections. And marketers, public relations companies and advertising agencies have increasingly used social media to place messages in front of journalists and media professionals in an effort to gain coverage for their clients.

Write to Lukas I. Alpert at lukas.alpert@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 15, 2017 15:59 ET (20:59 GMT)

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