Two accounts that support the national government are the ones that most spent on electoral advertising in Meta (Facebook and Instagram) in the months prior to the legislative elections in the province of Buenos Aires: an account that belongs to the Faro Foundation, of political scientist Agustín Laje, and the official account of La Libertad Avanza.
However, Among the first 25 top sponsors, accounts that support Peronist mayors of Fuerza Patria predominate.
The data emerges of a analysis made by him Checking Data Center based on the Meta Ad Library. The 100 main advertisers on political issues in the province of Buenos Aires in the last 3 months were analyzed. Although the base registers more than 2,700 accounts that advertise on political and electoral issues, the first 100 account for 75% of the money spent.
Fuerza Patria and accounts linked to Buenos Aires Peronism, those that invested the most in total
Of the 100 accounts analyzed, at least 41 are linked to Fuerza Patria. In total, $652 million was spent.
The third place in the ranking (the first 2 places are accounts linked to La Libertad Avanza) is an unofficial account called “La Fuerza de la Patria”, which spent more than $80.4 million in advertising in Meta in the last 3 months, and which promotes Fuerza Patria candidates and the policies of Axel Kicillof’s government.
In addition, among the first 25 places in the ranking there are several official and unofficial accounts that support and promote Peronist mayors of the Buenos Aires suburbs and other corners of the province. For example, the official accounts of the municipalities of Lanús ($46.5 million), La Plata ($27.1 million) and Quilmes ($11.3 million) and the personal accounts of the mayors Mario Ishii -José C. Paz- ($26.2 million), Fernando Gray -Esteban Echeverría- ($12.1 million) and Mariano Cascallares -Almirante Brown- ($11.5 million).
Agustín Frizzera, Executive Director of the NGO Democracia en Red, expressed his doubts about these practices, maintaining that, although these are management advertisements, “they are building their own capital in their profiles – which they then have left – based on official advertising.”
Furthermore, in that first group of the ranking there are media outlets that promote the mayor of Pilar, Federico Achával ($ 46 million), and Ishii himself ($ 31 million), an account that promotes the candidacy of Gabriel Katopodis – current Buenos Aires Minister of Infrastructure and head of Fuerza Patria’s list in the First Electoral Section- ($54.9 million), and the official accounts of the provincial government ($39.6 million) and Fuerza Patria PBA ($29.6 million).
The Faro Foundation, led by Agustín Laje, is the one that spent the most money on advertising
In the last 3 months, the Ratio account spent $93.6 million to promote posts that Meta classifies as political or electoral advertising. He occupies first place in the ranking.
He Ratio website belongs to the Faro Foundation, as Its own page indicates itand is presented as “a digital platform that aims to wage the cultural battle from social networks, giving the necessary tools to people who want to raise their voices, to be able to counteract the progressive narrative that abounds in our society and that has done so much damage to the country.” The foundation is directed by Agustín Laje, a political scientist close to Milei.
Among the promoted posts there are questions about insecurity in the La Matanza district and throughout the province, criticism of the provincial infrastructure, the state of Buenos Aires schools and the educational system, the spending on official guidelines of the provincial government and the cost of splitting the elections. But there are also posts on national issues or from other districts.
In the Buenos Aires elections, this account was also the one that spent the most: were $173 million in ads on the platform in the 30 days prior to the May 18 elections.
The second place in the ranking corresponds to the official account of La Libertad Avanza at the national level, with an expenditure of $91.8 million in the quarter analyzed.
Accounts related to the government of Javier Milei spent more than $ 431 million
Of the first 5 positions in the ranking of the highest paid advertising in Meta, 4 promote support for the party founded by Milei: Ratio ($93.6 million), the official page of La Libertad Avanza at the national level ($91.8 million), the official page of the party in the province of Buenos Aires ($60.9 million), and the official account of the national Head of the Cabinet of Ministers ($58.9 million), which only promotes paid advertisements about the Single Ballot of Paper, the new voting system at the national level.
Among the first 20 positions is also the official account of Diego Valenzuela, mayor of Tres de Febrero and head of the list of La Libertad Avanza in the First Section. It records advertising spending of $15.9 million. The account of Juan Pablo Allan, candidate for councilor in La Plata, also appears, with an expenditure of $4.1 million.
The rest, for the most part, pretend to be local media but promote posts in favor of the La Libertad Avanza candidates, such as José Luis Espert, who will seek to renew his seat in the lower house on October 26.
In total, counting the institutional, official, personal and media accounts that support their candidates, La Libertad Avanza has 32 in the top 100, with a total advertising investment of $431 million.
The other forces that advertised in Meta
The Nuevos Aires account, which in the Third Section has lawyer Mauricio D’ Alessandro as the head of the list, spent $23.1 million on advertising in Meta, while the Nuevos Aires Mar del Plata account spent $5 million and the Nuevos Aires Pilar account spent $4.1 million.
For its part, the personal account of Julio Zamora, mayor of Tigre and Somos candidate in the First Section, spent $7.4 million. On this same front, Pablo Domenichini, candidate in the Tercera, spent $3.6 million; and Daniel López, candidate for councilor in La Costa, $3.2 million.
María Eugenia Talerico leads the Potencia party, which is competing in the September 7 elections, and spent $7.1 million on ads in Meta. The official account of the Left Front, $14 million. And that of Manuel Passaglia, mayor of San Nicolás and candidate for Acts in the Second Section, $5.9 million.
