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Changelog

Source: NEWS.md

metatargetr 0.0.11

Bug fixes

  • Fixed get_targeting_metadata(), which had silently returned an empty tibble since the end of August 2026. It scraped a release’s expanded_assets page and read each row by fixed line offset; GitHub added a sha256 digest line to those rows, shifting every offset, so filenames came back empty instead of erroring. Asset rows are now parsed from the DOM (filename from the download link, timestamp from <relative-time>), which does not depend on row layout.

  • parse_release_assets() now errors when a release page yields asset rows but no download links at all, so a future markup change surfaces immediately instead of silently returning nothing. Covered by test-release_assets.R.

metatargetr 0.0.10

Improvements

  • Improved get_ad_library_page_id() reliability for personal profiles: if the profile transparency path fails (often login-gated), it now falls back to extracting delegate_page / associated_page_id from the regular profile HTML.

  • Added local artifact ignore rules to reduce accidental commits from ad-hoc analysis and automation runs (Playwright state, generated HTML/tarballs, local mapping/data files).

metatargetr 0.0.8

New features

  • New search_ad_library() function to search the Facebook Ad Library by page ID or text query without an API key. Uses headless Chrome to extract ad data from server-side rendered HTML (~30 ads per page). Supports experimental pagination via GraphQL.

    browser_session_start()
# Get all ads from a specific page
ads <- search_ad_library(page_id = "52985377549")
# Search by keyword
ads <- search_ad_library(query = "Rob Jetten", country = "NL")
# Check for political ads
ads %>% filter(categories == "POLITICAL")
browser_session_close()

    Returns rich metadata per ad:

    • Ad identity: ad_archive_id, page_name, page_id, ad_library_url
    • Classification: categories (e.g., "POLITICAL"), is_active
    • Dates: start_date, end_date (POSIXct)
    • Spend & reach: spend, currency, reach_estimate, impressions_lower, impressions_upper
    • Creative: body, title, caption, link_url, link_description, cta_text, display_format, images, videos, cards
    • Regulation: disclaimer_label, byline, publisher_platform

    Additional parameters: active_status, date_min/date_max, media_type, publisher_platforms, content_languages, search_type, sort_mode, sort_direction.

    Detects Facebook rate limiting (error 1675004) and reports it clearly instead of returning empty/phantom data.

metatargetr 0.0.7

Bug fixes

  • Fixed get_ad_snapshots() always returning data for the wrong ad (e.g., “Meesho” regardless of requested ad ID). Facebook’s server-side rendered script tags now contain a bundle of 25+ ads’ snapshot data in a single <script> element. The old detectmysnap() always extracted the first "snapshot": occurrence, which belonged to whichever ad Facebook placed first in the bundle. The function now accepts an ad_id parameter, locates the ad ID in the raw text, and extracts the nearest "snapshot": JSON object after it, ensuring each ad gets its own correct data.

metatargetr 0.0.6

Bug fixes

  • Fixed get_ad_snapshots() failing with “lexical error: invalid char in json text” when Facebook’s page structure includes unrelated script tags containing the word “snapshot” (e.g., “ads/reporting/snapshot”). The script tag filter now matches on "snapshot": (the JSON key) instead of bare snapshot, avoiding false positives (#1).

  • Fixed detectmysnap() passing NA to jsonlite::fromJSON() when the wrong script tag was selected. Added input validation at every step (NA/NULL/empty checks, split result check, regex match check, pre-parse check) so failures produce clear error messages instead of cryptic JSON parse errors.

  • Fixed browser_session_active() only checking R-side flags without verifying that Chrome is actually responsive. It now pings the browser with a lightweight evaluation. If Chrome has crashed (“Reconnecting to chrome process”), the stale session is automatically cleaned up so callers create a fresh one instead of reusing a dead session.

  • Fixed browser_session_close() failing to clean up R-side state when Chrome had already crashed, which could leave the session in a broken state where browser_session_start() would not work without restarting R.

New features

  • browser_session_start() now warms up the session by navigating to the Facebook Ad Library landing page on startup. This passes the JS challenge and sets cookies so that subsequent get_ad_snapshots() calls return data immediately. Controlled via warm_up (default TRUE) and warm_up_wait (default 8 seconds) parameters.

  • get_ad_snapshots() now includes automatic warm-up for temporary (non- persistent) sessions. When no persistent session is active, a fresh session navigates to the Ad Library landing page before fetching the actual ad, ensuring the JS challenge is passed.

  • get_ad_snapshots() now includes retry logic via the max_retries parameter (default 1). If the page loads but snapshot data is not yet available, the function retries with a progressively longer wait before giving up.

  • get_ad_snapshots() default wait_sec increased from 4 to 6 seconds for better reliability with Facebook’s current page load times.

  • New browser_session_restart() function for convenience when Chrome becomes unresponsive mid-batch. Equivalent to calling browser_session_close() then browser_session_start().

  • get_ad_snapshots() now wraps chromote navigation and evaluation calls in tryCatch, producing actionable warnings (suggesting browser_session_restart()) instead of unhandled errors when Chrome crashes.

metatargetr 0.0.5

  • Initial tracked release.