Some parties have cut back on Meta advertising — but experts say it’s a hard habit to kick

Federal political parties have diverged in their approaches to advertising on Facebook since legislation meant to support the news industry touched off a public brawl between the federal government and the social media giant.

As the fight between the Trudeau government and Meta — which owns the Facebook and Instagram platforms — escalated after Bill C-18, also known as the Online News Act, became law in June, at least one party has vowed to keep its dollars away from the company.

But experts say political advertising on Meta still delivers unmatched social media outreach and parties would struggle to replace it.

“For the real players here who are attempting to really influence voters on a mass scale with real budgets, they’ve just invested so much money into these platforms over the years, they’ve collected so much data, that starting from scratch with something else is not realistic,” said Dennis Matthews, president of the advertising agency Creative Currency and former communications adviser to Stephen Harper.

The Bloc Québécois has taken the most stringent position against the tech giant. It told CBC News that it pulled ads in June and “will not pay a cent to Meta” unless the company gets in line with C-18, which is designed to compel social media companies to compensate news agencies for content that gets posted to their platforms.

That boycott would stay in place during an election, the party’s spokesperson said.

The NDP has not advertised on Meta since the spring, according to records on Meta’s ad library. In a previous statement to CBC News, the party said it would keep the door open to spending on the platform.

“At the moment, the NDP will continue to do what most other parties are doing and keep reaching Canadians with the different tools available,” NDP national director Anne McGrath said in July. The NDP did not provide CBC News with an updated statement this week.

In response to C-18, Meta blocked news access on its platforms in Canada, claiming it was the only way for it to comply with what it says is deeply flawed legislation. The CBC’s corporate position is to support the law.

The Conservatives continue to advertise on Meta, which they use to boost attack ads on topics like the carbon tax and the government’s housing policy. Sarah Fischer, the party’s director of communications, told CBC News the Conservatives have not reduced spending on the platform.

The Liberal Party of Canada also spent money on Meta platforms over the summer, despite the fact that the federal government itself has pulled its ad spending. The Liberals declined to comment on their advertising strategy when questioned by CBC News.

Provincially in Quebec, the governing Coalition Avenir Québec and the Parti Québécois have stuck to a boycott of Meta advertising, while Québec Solidaire and the Quebec Liberals have continued advertising in the lead-up to an Oct. 2 byelection, though with small dollar figures involved.

No ‘natural’ alternative

Matthews said it makes sense that the federal Liberals — who were seen as digital advertising trailblazers in Canada in 2015 — might be unwilling to close the door on the platform.

“If you’re mad at Meta, that may be a government position. That may even be their personal position. But the reality is, they’ve just invested so much into the platform over the years,” he said.

“Meta is the dominant platform online [for] reaching voters. And so there’s not a natural number two to be going to here.”

Alex Marland, a professor of political science at Acadia University, said the Liberals face a choice between exploiting a long-standing digital advertising strategy and remaining consistent in their messaging.

“The challenge I think for them is they’ve got to decide whether [it’s] worth the sort of allegations of hypocrisy that would arise if a Liberal government is saying they’re opposed, and yet the political party is saying it’s OK. They’ve managed to kind of walk that tightrope so far,” he said.

“I’m not so sure the average Canadian is paying attention, so that’s probably why. But in the heat of an election campaign?”

Marland also cautioned that advertising is just one facet of political communications — and parties are often more interested in building lists that allow them to shepherd voters toward greater engagement.

Meta also remains a strong platform of choice for interest groups. Organizations like the Pathways Alliance, Environmental Defence Canada, the Canadian Labour Congress and the Canadian Taxpayers Federation have spent thousands of dollars on ads over the past month.

Meta itself has been its own biggest spender on political advertising over the past few months. It has dropped more than $600,000 since July on ads letting users know how it’s responding to C-18.

Liberals may stay away from Meta, professor says

Thierry Giasson, a professor of political science at Laval University, also pointed to the likelihood of parties being accused of hypocrisy for taking hard stances against Meta while continuing to advertise on its platforms.

Giasson said that presents voters with a contradiction between parties’ ideological positions and the actions they take as “political organizations that are in the business of winning elections.”

He also said that while the federal Liberals, trailing in the polls, are likely to launch a major communications campaign in the near future, Meta won’t play a role in it.

“There’s no way that the Liberals are going to be advertising on the Meta platforms and maybe other social media” during the current conflict, he said.

Matthews said internal tensions between a party’s public rhetoric and its electoral machine are nothing new.

“I’m sure there’s been moments where political parties have been frustrated with a broadcast news network, and their political apparatus is still advertising on that network, or frustrated with that with newspaper coverage and then still buying ads in the newspaper,” he said.

Matthews said he doubts the advertising effects of Ottawa’s confrontation with Meta will extend beyond the medium term.

“I don’t think anything around [C-18] fundamentally changes the digital advertising landscape for political parties in Canada,” he said.