Social media companies’ political advertising policies are likely to come under increasing scrutiny as UK political parties throw more money at online ads in the run up to the election, Jess Jones writes
On the day Rishi Sunak announced the election, much like the rain he stood in, political parties began pouring their resources into social media, with online advertising expenditures rapidly escalating.
Since the election was called, UK political parties have collectively spent over £1m on online advertisements, more than four times the spending seen in the same period during the 2019 election, according to analysis by Tortoise.
Online tracker ‘Who Targets Me’ shows that, so far, Labour has spent more on online ads by a significant margin.
Labour has splashed £350,000 on Google/Youtube in the first week, compared to the £50,000 spent by the Conservatives, and spent about £500,000 on Facebook ads, about £300,000 more than the Tories, in the same period.
Unlike their manifestos, which look quite similar, the two parties appear to have adopted different advertising strategies. The Tories are said to be taking an approach that focuses on an older male demographic, with all its online ad spending targeting the 80 seats it came closest to losing in 2019 and the 20 seats it came closest to winning. Labour, meanwhile, has been specifically launching campaign videos targeting a number of constituencies.
The rules and regs in the UK around online election advertising, however, are kind of blurry, meaning social media companies’ political advertising policies are likely to come under increasing scrutiny in the coming weeks.
Late last year, a new transparency law for online political campaigning entered into force, meaning that most digital campaign material must now show who paid for and produced it. The Electoral Commission had been calling for this requirement, which physical campaign materials like leaflets have long been subject to, to be extended to online material since 2003.
The Advertising Standards Authority does not regulate political ads related to elections, although complaints of bias in television or radio advertising can be made to Ofcom.
But non-broadcast political advertising, including on paper or on social media sites is largely exempt from heavy regulation. Electoral law does not require claims in political campaigns to be truthful or factually accurate, although it is a crime to publish a false statement about the personal character or conduct of a candidate.
In today’s increasingly polarised online world, it is not unrealistic to expect that social media companies will be hit with a barrage of complaints about political ads on their platforms.
Last year, Google made $305.6bn from advertising, while Meta earned nearly $135bn, although they do not disclose how much of this is from political advertising. According to a Bloomberg report in December, Elon Musk’s X was on track to bring in about $2.5bn in 2023, the majority of which is from advertising.
In January 2023, when the company was known as Twitter, it reversed its 2019 ban on political ads as it looked to boost revenue. Its policy states, however, that advertisers may not promote false or misleading content. Both Google and Meta say they support responsible practices and all the platforms claim to review ad content against their standards before it is allowed to run. Meta also says it rejects an ad if it contains debunked content, and since January, political adverts on Facebook and Instagram must say if they were created or altered using artificial intelligence.
Unlike Facebook, Google,YouTube and X, TikTok says it does not allow any political ads, although this has not stopped some from appearing, according to a new report from Global Witness. Tiktok conducted a review and said the offending posts were due to human error.
But how much sway do these tech companies actually have over our elections?
Some say it is incredibly difficult to measure the exact impact of political advertising online and, despite the eye-watering sums being funnelled into social media campaigns worldwide, there is limited research on the effectiveness of online political advertising.
One recent study in the Political Communication journal found that, in multi-party systems, the quantity of ads matters more than their quality. “The more online political ads people receive from a party, the higher the party preference people have for that party,” the academics said.
Another study found that young people are now much less likely to trust political advertising compared to commercial ads, raising questions about whether politicians’ promises will even cut through to younger audiences on social media sites.
Some have argued that tech companies hold too much power over democracy, especially due to issues such as data privacy, voter manipulation, misinformation and transparency. And, with no clear rules in place, who takes the blame when things get messy?
One thing is certain though. While all the major political parties are spending more of their money on online ads, and engaging in meme wars on social media, tech giants like Google, X and Meta are raking in the profit.