With less than 16 days remaining until the local elections on March 31, both rhetoric and campaigns have intensified. However, the fate of the elections is now being influenced not only by the politicians' statements and promises but also by social media advertisements.
Observatory, which examines the dynamics between technology, society, and authorities, looked at the 30-day period from January 24, 2024, to February 22, 2024, within Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram.
The reason for the research being limited to META is Meta's transparency regarding political advertisements and its publication of advertising information in its library.
According to the research, during the aforementioned 30-day period, 2,817 accounts spent a total of 35,664,160 lira on advertisements. The Observatory examined 72 accounts that accounted for 75% of the expenditures, spending 26,629,747 lira.
CHP spends more nationwide, while AKP spends more in İstanbul
Unlike the general elections of May 14-28, it appears that the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) has spent 1.74 times more on advertising for the local elections on March 29 compared to the Justice and Development Party (AKP).
The amount spent on advertisements on Meta in the last 30 days by accounts supporting CHP candidates for the local elections is 4,456,000 lira, while the expenditure for accounts supporting AKP candidates is 8,292,000 lira.
However, the situation is different in İstanbul. AKP has allocated more resources than CHP for Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and its districts. While AKP candidates spent a total of 5,448,000 lira, CHP spent 4,103,000 lira.
| Political party | Expenditure (in İstanbul) |
| AKP | 5.448.000 |
| CHP | 4.103.000 |
| Independent candidates | 88.118 |
| Felicity Party (Saadet) | 74.257 |
| MHP | 65.949 |
When we look at the İstanbul candidates' own Facebook and Instagram pages, Murat Kurum appears to have spent 320,000 lira more than Ekrem İmamoğlu.
In the last 30 days, Murat Kurum's Facebook page has incurred advertising expenses totaling 3,465,192 lira, while Ekrem İmamoğlu's page has spent 3,136,337 lira.
"Perception" advertisements
he Observatory warns about for pages advertising outside of the official accounts of political parties or candidates in its research that try to create perceptions.
At this point, the Observatory, citing two accounts named 'İstanbul Realities' and 'Remember İstanbul' as examples, says that the advertising strategies of these accounts are based on delivering certain messages through political micro-targeting rather than promoting any specific candidate. This is because these two pages, established recently, make accusations against Ekrem İmamoğlu and Murat Kurum.
The 'İstanbul Realities' page appears to have been created to spread the allegation that the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) President Ekrem İmamoğlu has not fulfilled his election promises. The account has spent 75,000 lira on advertising in the last 30 days.
The advertisements contain various allegations, such as the İBB under Ekrem İmamoğlu's management taking no steps to improve the quality and comfort of taxis or failing to open Women's Health Centers.
The 'Remember İstanbul' page also publishes advertisements referring to the times when the İBB Presidency was under the AKP. The account has spent 185,000 lira on advertising. There are many allegations pointing to practices that occurred during the AKP administration of İBB, such as decisions detrimental to the people of İstanbul and land sales.
Credit card information sufficient to advertise
According to Facebook's statement, anyone wishing to publish advertisements related to social issues and politics in the ad library must go through an identity verification process. As a prerequisite for this process, a real or legal person must make an identity declaration. However, the identity declarations made for the two accounts specifically, Istanbul Realities and Remember Istanbul, do not contain the name of a real or legal entity. In the identity declaration section of their pages, only the names of the pages are provided. These page names do not appear to conform to the format of real or legal entity names in Turkey. Therefore, it seems that opening an account and entering credit card information is sufficient to advertise.
On the other hand, digital advertisements are highly effective in conveying political messages in terms of cost and reach. Even though these accounts are newly opened and have few followers, they can easily reach millions of people through the advertisements they provide. Through micro-targeting campaigns, issues that are not on the agenda can quickly reach large audiences. (HA/PE)
