Political parties spent Rs 53 crore for ads on Facebook, Google between February and May

NEW DELHI: Political parties have spent over Rs 53 crore on digital platforms like Google and Facebook between February and May, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accounting for a lion’s share of the spending.nnAccording to Facebook’s Ad Library Report, there were 121,000 political ads with a total spending of more than Rs 26.5 crore between February and May 15 this year.nnSimilarly, ad spend on Google, YouTube, and partner properties since February 19 stood at Rs 27.36 crore with 14,837 ads.nnRuling party BJP spent Rs 4.23 crore on over 2,500 ads on Facebook. Supporting pages like ‘My First Vote for Modi’, ‘Bharat Ke Mann Ki Baat’ and ‘Nation with NaMo’ too, infused over Rs 4 crore on ads on the social networking platform that has well over 200 million users in India. On Google’s platforms, it has spent more than Rs 17 crore.nnThe Indian National Congress spent Rs 1.46 crore on Facebook for 3,686 ads. It shelled out another Rs 2.71 crore on Google’s platforms with 425 ads.nnAs per Facebook’s data, All India Trinamool Congress has spent Rs 29.28 lakhs.nnAam Aadmi Party shelled out Rs 13.62 lakh for 176 ads on the Facebook page. Interestingly, Google’s political ad dashboard showed that Auburn Digital Solutions was running AAP campaigns and had spent Rs 2.18 crore from February 19 onwards.nnEarlier this year, digital platforms like Google and Facebook had said that they will offer details of political advertisements on their platform to bring transparency ahead of elections in the country. They have also announced a slew of measures over the past few months to strengthen efforts around election integrity.nnThe general elections in the country have entered the final lap for 59 seats in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand and Chandigarh.nnCounting of votes for the world’s largest democracy will be on May 23.nnSource: Press Trust of India