Political ads to continue

ELECTION advertising on social media is reaching its peak, with Labor splashing more than $100,000 a day on Facebook ads while United Australia Party breaks the $18 million spending barrier on YouTube.

And the political ad spending spree is likely to continue until polling day as Australia’s old-fashioned election advertising blackout, which comes into play at midnight on Thursday, does not affect online platforms.

Political experts have slammed the regulations as outdated and “not fit for purpose”.

An analysis of social media election ads shows the Australian Labor Party spent almost $700,000 with Facebook in the past week alone over 709 advertisements. By comparison, the Liberal Party placed just 18 Facebook ads, paying $117,000.

But the biggest spending party of all, Clive Palmer’s UAP, has broken records on YouTube this week, with Google figures showing the company has spent more than $18.1 million on political ads since November 2020.