Skip to contents

Changelog

Source: NEWS.md

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.