BJP top advertiser on Facebook, reveals data

The Bharatiya Janata Party was the largest advertiser on social media giant Facebook in India on “social issues, elections and politics” in the past 18 months. The party spent over Rs 4.61 crore since February 2019, according to data available until August 24 on the Facebook’s spending tracker, reported the Indian Express. It is followed by Congress party with Rs 1.84 crore,

The top 10 spenders in this category are four other advertisers who are connected to the BJP. Three of them share the same address in Delhi- the ruling party’s national headquarters, according to the tracker.

Among four advertisers, two included community pages, ‘My First Vote for Modi’ (Rs 1.39 crore) and ‘Bharat Ke Mann Ki Baat’ (Rs 2.24 crore). These two are categorised as a news and media website (Rs 1.28 crore). And one is (Rs 0.65 crore) affiliated to BJP leader and former MP R K Sinha, who owns Security and Intelligence Services (SIS), reported Indian Express.

‘My First Vote for Modi’ and ‘Bharat Ke Mann Ki Baat’ were created in January 2019, and Nation With Namo in June 2013. According to information about advertisers available on Facebook, all three have listed their address as “6 – A, Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg, Near ITO, Minto Bridge Colony, Barakhamba, New Delhi 110002”

Their advertisement expenditure along with the BJP spend comes to Rs 10.17 crore. It is about 64 per cent of the total advertising (Rs 15.81 crore) by the top ten in this category.

The period covered includes the general elections in April-May 2019.

Another political party in the top ten in this category is Aam Aadmi Party with a expenditure of Rs 69 lakh.

Facebook India’s total ad spend under this category since February 2019 is Rs 59.65 crore, as per data. The ads were not restricted to the website and app, but were spread across other Facebook properties including Instagram, Audience Network and Messenger, reported Indian Express

Other advertisers among the top ten in the category include the news platform Dailyhunt with over Rs 1 crore and e-commerce platform Flipkart with Rs 86.43 lakh,

Earlier this month in a report by Wall Street journal that said Facebook India intervened in content moderation processes to ensure hate speeches by a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader were not taken down.