Facebook takes less money from BJP in election campaign
Facebook is offering cheap advertising to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in India. The data was obtained by analyzing the cost of advertising on Facebook in 10 elections in the last 22 months in India. Khabar Al Jazeera.
The analysis found that in nine out of 10 elections, including the 2019 parliamentary elections, Facebook received less money from the BJP than other parties in campaign advertisements. This has given the BJP, India’s largest political client in India, a chance to reach more voters at a lower cost, which puts them ahead of the opposition in the election campaign.
India-based non-profit media organization The Reporters Collective (TRC) and research project Ad Watch analyzed data on 5,36,060 political advertisements posted on Facebook from February 2019 to November 2020. This data was collected through the Ad Library Application Programming Interface (API) and the ‘Transparency’ tool of Meta Platform Inc.
According to the analysis, Facebook has taken 548 US dollars or 41 thousand 644 rupees from BJP and its affiliates to show an advertisement 1 million times on an average. The main opposition party, the Indian Congress, had to spend US ৭ 602 or Rs 53,006 for the same. In other words, the Congress has spent about 29 percent more than the BJP for advertising on Facebook.
An analysis by TRCO ad.watch shows how Facebook allowed the BJP to advertise a large number of fake information and good product packages. However, Facebook blocked almost all similar ads created by the opposition.
Earlier, the Supreme Court of India had expressed concern that the controversial role of Facebook was threatening India’s election politics and democracy. This analysis makes that fear a reality.
There are already allegations about Facebook’s closeness with the BJP. Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday (March 16th) accused Facebook of unwarranted interference in India’s democratic process.
