The Biden campaign just tripled Trump's single-day record for Facebook ad spending

Former Vice President Joe Biden has gone digital.

The Democratic presidential nominee has been encouraged to up the ante in his campaign's online presence as part of an attempt to reach out to younger voters, and, per The New York Times, his recent Facebook ad spending shows Biden was listening. The Times reports Biden spent about the same amount on Facebook ads over just a few days last week as he did throughout the entire first 10 months of his candidacy. The campaign reportedly poured $1.6 million into the platform on last Thursday alone, more than tripling President Trump's single-day record.

The uptick in digital spending makes sense since Biden's primary supporters tended to skew older; now that he's the nominee it's necessary to expand the base to include younger people, many of whom supported his competitors before they dropped out. That's not to mention that the increase also coincides with nationwide protests against police brutality, a movement in which social media has played a key role. "It's great that the Biden campaign is seeing the activism that is going on in the streets and looking to capitalize on that online," said Eric Ming, who was the director of digital and paid media on Andrew Yang's presidential campaign. Read more at The New York Times.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.