Hyderabad: In the 2018-19 elections, political parties across the country spent over Rs 53 crore on Facebook (Meta) and Google ads. In contrast, in the run up to 2023 polls, politicians have already spent Rs 450 crore, with over Rs 25 crore spent only in Telangana.
Siasat.com found that over the last three months alone, parties in Telangana have spent Rs 20.76 crore on Google ads and Rs 4.12 crore on Meta. Before that, ads were displayed nonconsecutively, with spikes during the GHMC Mayor elections, and bypolls in Dubbak, Huzurabad and Munugode, wherein politicians spent around ₹5 crore.
BRS spends Rs 10.7 crore in 26 days on Google ads
Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) started its digital ad campaign on November 1, showing around 1,493 targeted ads by spending 10.69 crores in 26 days, more than any other political party.
BJP displays 57% of all political ads on Google
Since the launch of its digital election campaigning, BJP displayed 29,722 ads, which makes up 57% of the total of 51,456 ads shown in the Telangana region and has spent Rs 1.89 crore for the same.
Congress dominates Meta ads
Congress has displayed 150 advertisements on Facebook by spending Rs 92.03 lakh in the last 90 days. The party has also spent over ₹8 crore on 1581 Google ads.
Targeted ads
This year, one of the political ads on Google ran between Sep 23 and 30, targeted for geolocation Hyderabad, was seen by people over 10 million times, which is equal to estimated population of the city. There are many such ads by political parties which are targeted based on location, age and gender. One of the BRS ads (snippet below) was shown to over five million people in 123 postal code areas.
Another advertisement, which cost over Rs 10 lakh, ran for 29 days, between June and August this year when BJP’s poll strategy surfaced and G Kishan Reddy took over as Telangana BJP president. The ad was shown over 10 million times across Telangana, excluding Hyderabad.
Over the last 30 days, Google has shown over five thousand political ads in the Telangana region, for which political parties have spent Rs 19.76 crore.
Unrestricted ads on Facebook
Many ads from various political parties were banned for spreading ‘hateful, distorted, and demonstrably false information’. On Meta, for instance, unlike Google, political parties have created unchecked pages that spread such information. Facebook, being a neutral platform, remains unmoored from the content it carries, which is exploited by political parties.
Over the 90 days between Jul 29 and Oct 26, parties have spent Rs 1.8 crore on Facebook ads. The top spender is a page (Mana Modi), which has spend Rs 40.90 lakh during this time. It is followed by another page with Telugu title translating to “okay stop it, sir, it’s enough you may leave”, which has spent Rs 29.29 lakh. This Facebook page, apparently associated with BJP, targets BRS and Congress through graphic representations and asks viewers to download ringtones mocking those parties.
Another page (Facebook Telangana Atma Gouravam) also targets BRS and Congress while highlighting PM Modi’s ‘achievements’.
BRS ads previously violated 48-hour ‘tranquil period’
BRS and Congress also run a number of Facebook pages which are used to post ads. During the 2021 Warangal-Khammam-Nalgonda Graduates’ constituency elections, BRS candidate Palla Rajeshwar Reddy continued video advertisements even on election day, flouting the 48-hour ‘tranquil period.’ His ads were shown in the polling region, promising employment for voters aged between 18 and 35.
