Political parties spent more than €45k on Facebook ads
With Election 2020 in full swing, new figures show political parties spent more than €45,000 on Facebook ads between March 2019 and January 14 this year.
While there are strict rules in place covering ads on TV, newspapers, radio, and other traditional media, as well as donations to candidates, there are no such rules when it comes to social media ads.
Fianna Fáil spent the most on Facebook ads — €13,922 between last March and January 14. Fine Gael came in second, spending €13,585 in the same period.
The ads allow parties to micro-target Facebook users in this country, selecting who sees their ad by categories such as age, gender, location, and even sporting preferences.
The spend by all parties and candidates on platforms such as Twitter and Facebook is set to rise significantly during the campaign.
Men across all age groups and people living in Dublin were the most heavily targeted voters.
Political scientist and executive director of Digital Action Liz Carolan said political campaigning online bypasses 100 years of electoral laws.
“Political ads can be a good thing, they can help me as a voter know who is running in the local area,” she said. “But there are two core principles that we have in our democracy.
“One of them is that we don’t let the quantity of money that you have determine whether or not you win, so we limit the amount that candidates and parties can receive in donations.
“The second principle is we like everything to happen in the open. We don’t like secrecy in our campaigning.
“You hear people talk about transparency a lot. The opposite of transparency is secrecy and that’s what digital campaigning allows as it’s currently manifest. It doesn’t have to be that way.”
