New Delhi: According to data available until August 24 on the Facebook’s spending tracker, the ruling BJP ( Bharatiya Janata Party) is among the top 10 spenders in this category (political ads) and other four advertisers also belong to the party.
The BJP was the largest advertiser on Facebook in India on “social issues, elections and politics” over the last 18 months, spending over Rs 4.61 crore since February 2019, followed by opposition party Congress with Rs 1.84 crore.
As per the data available on the social media giant’s page, Facebook India’s total ad spend under this category since February 2019 is Rs 59.65 crore. The ads were not restricted to the website and app, but were spread across other Facebook properties including Instagram, Audience Network and Messenger.
The community pages, ‘My First Vote for Modi’ and ‘Bharat Ke Mann Ki Baat’ were created in January 2019, and Nation With Namo in June 2013. All three promote content related to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP, but do not mention any direct links to the party on their pages.
On August 14, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology sought an explanation from Facebook on The Wall Street Journal report that its top executive cited business imperatives and “opposed applying hate-speech rules” to at least four individuals and groups linked with the BJP despite the fact that they were “flagged internally for promoting or participating in violence.”
According to Facebook, an ad is categorised under “social issues, elections and politics” if it is made by or on behalf of a candidate, political party or advocates an outcome; is about a particular election or referendum; is regulated by political advertising; or is about a local social issue.
The data shows the other advertisers among the top ten in the category include the news platform Dailyhunt with just over Rs 1 crore and e-commerce platform Flipkart with Rs 86.43 lakh, the data show.
The list also includes a video-sharing app Public (Rs 1.24 crore), which focuses on news videos in regional languages and has existed on Facebook since October 2018, but with no information in the advertiser section.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is by far the richest political party in India, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) , claimed in past. The ADR analysed the audited accounts of the BJP, and six other national parties, including the Congress, for 2016-17. The BJP claimed an income of Rs 10.03 billion, and an expenditure of Rs 7.1 billion during 2016-17.
In 2019 also, BJP was highest earner in FY19 at Rs 2,410 crore.
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