Spend and usage of social media and advertising

Details of the request

1. Please consider this correspondence to be a request pursuant to the Official Information Act 1982.
2. Does Ministry for the Environment pay for advertising services on the Face book lnstagram, Linkedin, Google, Tik Tok or other digital platform?
   1. If so, how much money has been spent, by year, on advertising on each of these platforms?
   2. Does Ministry for the Environment use any agencies to place or manage that advertising, if so who?
   3. If Ministry for the Environment uses any agencies to place or manage that advertising, what is (or are) the names of each of those agencies?
   4. If Ministry for the Environment uses any agencies to place or manage that advertising, please provide copies of any and all legal agreements between that advertising agency and Ministry for the Environment.
3. If Ministry for the Environment uses advertising services on digital platforms as above, does (or has) the agency created "custom audience" lists as part of those campaigns?
   1. If so, please provide a list of the custom lists that have been generated, including the number of people on that list and what market segmentation was being targeted by that campaign and the date for which each custom audience was generated, along with when these audience lists were uploaded and to which platform?
   2. If so, what privacy analysis was conducted prior to custom audience lists being generated?
   3. If so, was the Minister responsible ever made aware that Ministry for the Environment was undertaking this activity? If so, which Minister was it, and when were they notified?
   4. If so, what advice was sought prior to this activity taking place?
   5. If so, what lawful basis does Ministry for the Environment rely on for this disclosure?
   6. If so, what was the origin of the information that was included in these custom audience lists?
   7. If so, did Ministry for the Environment receive any specific advice as to the efficacy of the security measures around these lists, if so, who provided this advice and when was it provided? Please provide copies of the advice provided.
   8. If so, what security measures are used to protect the privacy of individuals?
   9. If so, is Ministry for the Environment still generating and uploading custom audiences or is this practice "on hold". If it is on hold, when and why was it put on hold?
   10. If so, can people "opt-out" of being included these custom audience lists, and if so, how many people have done so?
   11. If so, has Ministry for the Environment received any complaints about this practice, if so, when was the complaint received? Please provide copies of the complaints and a response.
   12. If so, did Ministry for the Environment consult with the office of the Privacy Commissioner on this practice? If so, when?
   13. If so, has Ministry for the Environment received any reports about the effectiveness of custom audience lists? If so, please provide these.
   14. If so, for each upload of the custom audience lists to each platform, what percentage of these were "matched" against the current users of each platform?
4. Has any person from Ministry for the Environment had any meetings, whether in person, by video conference or other method, with any representative from Meta, Google, Linkedin, Tik Tok, or any other digital advertising platform in the last 12 months?
   1. If so, who was present during these meetings?
   2. If so, please provide the agenda, notes, minutes and any communications associated with these meetings.
   3. Does Ministry for the Environment have a dedicated account manager with Meta, Google, Linkedin, Tok Tok or any other digital advertising platform. If so, what is the name of this person or the names of these people?
5. Please provide any correspondence, e-mail, document, or record held by Ministry for the Environment on the subject of custom audience lists, advertising on Meta, Face book, lnstagram, Google, Tik Tok or any other platform for the period 1 September 2024 and today.