Surrogate advertising sees rapid growth across social media this election

The ruling BJP was the top spender on Meta platforms last month, which expended Rs 9.42 crore in online advertising to run 29,291 ads across the country

As India's Lok Sabha elections heat up, the social media landscape is flooded with political advertising. Interestingly, other than the official party pages that are pouring significant funds into their campaigns, a notable wave of affiliated advertisers is also making substantial ad buys, indirectly supporting political parties.

The latest monthly advertising data from 5th April to 4th May, 2024, available on Meta ad library portal, points towards a significant presence of surrogate pages labelled as ‘digital creator’ that are advertising indirectly for political parties.

A page registered with the name – ‘Phir ek baar Modi sarkar’ – for example, was