Flemish political parties spent more than 4 million euros on advertising on Facebook in 2022. This is 2 times more than Dutch parties when there were municipal elections in the Netherlands and none in our country. The Flemish parties have followed in the footsteps of the Vlaams Belang and are investing massively in propaganda on social networks.
€4,999,583. This is the amount that Belgian political parties have spent on Facebook (and Instagram). This is a 6% increase on last year, figures from the Adelns Collective what the RTBF was able to consult first.
In three years, the podium has not changed: it is still the federal opposition parties that spend the most on Meta (Facebook and Instagram). The N-VA, the Vlaams Belang and the PTB/PVDA (French-speaking and Dutch-speaking pages) spent 3,579,085 euros, or 72% of the total amount spent by all the parties.
Even if spending increased more among French-speaking parties (+ 12%) than Dutch-speaking parties (+ 4%) between 2021 and 2022, investing in social networks remains a mainly Flemish political sport. The French-speaking parties disbursed only 10% of the total amount.
The N-VA spent 1.7 million to promote its Facebook and Instagram page. The Vlaams Belang 1.1 million. » Flemish parties are the biggest spenders in Europe, notice Reinout Van Zandycke, expert in political communication. It’s abnormal to spend so much money on ads on social networks. ”
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The founder of the communication agency Exposure compares the amounts spent by certain parties to organizations in the private sector: The N-VA and the Vlaams Belang have expenses that are similar to those of multinationals. The other parties such as Open Vld, Groen or Vooruit devote budgets worthy of SMEs. »
An analysis of the ranking of the pages of the most sponsored political personalities confirms this trend: apart from the bilingual Raoul Hedebouw, all the other politicians are Flemish. While he was in the top 10 in 2021, Georges-Louis Bouchez has almost halved his Facebook spending and finds himself in 13th position.
