Exploring digital campaign competence: the role of knowledge in data-driven election campaigns

Data-driven political advertising (DDPA) is a manifestation of data-driven campaigning and is increasingly used by European political parties. Political actors can collect vast amounts of personal data to show voters targeted ads. Therefore, DDPA has received much attention from scholars. However, we lack insights into what voters know about DDPA, and how this knowledge affects (dis-)engagement with personalized ads. We approach this problem by examining (a) which voter characteristics enhance understanding of DDPA tactics and implications, and (b) to what extent DDPA knowledge plays a role for engaging with or avoiding of political ads. In a two-wave panel survey study (<i>N</i>_W1 = 1264, <i>N</i>_W2 = 1011), conducted during the 2021 Dutch General Elections, we show that (a) male, younger, higher educated and politically interested respondents were most knowledgeable. Yet, (b) the predictors vary when examining different types of DDPA knowledge, and (c) DDPA knowledge neither affects ad engagement nor ad avoidance, but we find that political interest and self-efficacy are crucial for ad engagement and ad avoidance, respectively. These findings discuss the relevance of DDPA knowledge in the context of data-driven campaigns, and add to the debate on how to best empower voters in a changed political advertising landscape.