How is the advent of digital campaigning affecting the fight for electoral power?
The use of the Internet in political campaigns has become increasingly mainstream over the last decade and the amount spent on digital advertising by political campaigns has surged from 0.3% in 2011 of total spending to 42.8% in 2017. This drastic change in just over 5 years has shown its significance in the last 2019 general election, where the major political parties' expenditures on online platforms were significant with £6 million spent on Facebook and just under £3 million on Google by the three main UK-wide parties.
What kind of changes have occurred in the digital campaigning landscape between the 2019 and 2024 general elections? How are these changes affecting the strategies for the upcoming general election? This blog will answer these questions addressing both regulatory and voter behavioural changes.
Digital campaigning in 2019
The digital campaigning landscape in 2019 was characterised by concerns regarding transparency. At the time inadequate regulation wasn’t able to keep up with the rapid expansion of these new campaigning methods.
An Electoral Reform Society report found that political party spending on platforms likely increased by over 50 per cent in 2019 when compared to 2017. This increased spending bore its fruits to some extent in that about 24% of those who took part in the Electoral Commission’s survey answered that they gained information from social media posts and adverts by campaigners.
The majority of digital campaigns took the form of paid ads and posts that appeared on voters’ social media. Such ads targeted voters depending on their personal information registered on their social media including where they live, age, interests and socio-economic backgrounds. There were clear examples of this micro-targeting taking place during the election. The Conservative Party had 2 identical ads, one stressing to ‘Get Brexit Done’ and the other emphasising that “this will help get parliament working again for you”. Junyan Zhu and Rachel Isaacs, researchers at the University of Sheffield, argue that it was likely that Brexit-related ads were targeted at audiences in Leave-inclined regions based on where they live.
The problem with these ads was that audiences found it difficult to identify who was targeting them and why. Nearly half (46%) of the answers to the Electoral Commission’s survey agreed that they felt concerned about why and how political ads were targeted at them during the 2019 election. There was no duty to describe which party the ad is funded by, and the online campaigning allowed for funding loopholes including political campaigns led by non-party organisations that are not exactly reported to the Electoral Commission. The data from the Facebook API indicated that, in 2019, 88 organisations were coded as non-party campaign groups. However, 2019 saw only 64 of these organisations registered and 46 were registered after the election was confirmed. This suggests that a portion of political ads cannot be traced to whom they were delivered from.
Changes in Digital Campaigning (2019-2024)
Regulatory and legislative change
# Increased limits for political campaigning expenditures
In November 2023, the government made significant increases of 80% in spending limits for political parties in the UK General Elections, increasing from £30,000 per seat they contest, to £54,000. Researchers expect this will lead to further investment especially in digital ads as they are cheaper and reach a large audience compared to traditional physical campaigning methods but more predictable, configurable and controllable compared to other unpaid online posts. Other scholars echo this point stating that it is ‘impossible to limit’ the spending on digital campaigning compared to traditional broadcast media that have to maintain political ‘balance’.
# Imprints are now required for digital ads
Following the concerns raised around unclear sources of ads in the 2019 general election, the government has made it compulsory for political campaigners to put digital imprints on their ads. Digital imprints enable voters to identify which person or organisation is responsible for promoting the ads which increases transparency. This legislation came into place in November 2023.
# Social Media Companies sets rules and restrictions
Private companies have also made changes in how to cope with digital campaigning. Following new EU rules restricting ad targeting and delivery techniques, Meta started offering a subscription to avoid ads in Europe, thereby reducing the audience for targeted advertising. Additionally, Meta platforms have introduced stricter verification processes for political advertisers, such as requiring identity confirmation through a passport and proof of address, which raises the barrier to placing ads. Moreover, Meta launched a UK Elections Operations Centre to rapidly address threats with experts from intelligence, data science, engineering, and legal teams.
Voter Behaviour
# Changes in platforms
Popular digital platforms amongst the public have changed over the past 5 years. Although Facebook is still widely used by approximately 77% of UK adult internet users, the age demographics have seemed to skew older. Meanwhile, a new rising platform, including Tiktok, which has become increasingly widely used with 42% of UK adult internet users, has younger demographics with 85% of 16-24 internet users having used Tiktok. This demographic change can lead to campaigners expanding and focusing on different platforms compared to the last general election.
# Role of influencers
Working with influencers, with their increasing influence and proximity to the young generation, has become more mainstream over the past years. This case has been seen in the US where both Republican and Democrat leaders are engaging with influencers with substantial followers. Some reports suggest that the Democrat political action committee (Pac) Priorities USA is spending US$1 million (£782,000) on approximately 150 influencers to push forward the publishing of pro-Biden posts.
Digital Campaigning Strategies in the 2024 General Election
In May 2024, the former prime minister Rishi Sunak announced the general election. After that until the election date, political parties made big moves in their digital campaigning strategies. The increase in spending limits has indeed appeared to boost parties’ investments in digital campaigning, where in the first 2 weeks, political parties likely spent around £5m on Meta advertising alone, compared to £10m spent on Google and Facebook during the whole 2019 election campaign.
As expected, the introduction of new platforms and tools was seen in this election. The 2024 UK Election campaign has been the first where TikTok seems to have played a role - both parties launched TikTok accountsseveral days after Rishi’s announcement. Labour posted 160+ posts, with 17 posts reaching a million views, while Conservatives also posted 40+ videos with 8 posts over a million views. Moreover, Labour formeda dedicated team to engage with micro-influencers on platforms including Instagram and TikTok to spread their message. Labour hugely outperformed the Conservatives on engagement numbers. However, some argue that although TikTok was a new aspect of digital campaigning, it was still minor compared to paid ads, as although it is free, mastering and achieving big reach in the algorithm is difficult.
Paid and targeted ads were still very much mainstream of digital campaigning. While both parties were spending thousands on advertising already, here again, Labour seemed to be investing more compared to the Conservatives. According to numbers from the ‘Who Targets Me’ monitoring website, Labour was outspending the Conservatives by £350k to £50k on Google/YouTube in the first week of campaigning and by approximately £500k to about £200k on Facebook.
So now we wonder. Are all the restrictions taken in place working? Some argue that the restrictions made parties switch from ‘micro-targeting’ to a ‘show this to everyone’ strategy. Mainly due to increased restrictions on all Meta platforms, both parties were likely to have shifted from tailoring ads depending on voter characteristics but rather sending out the same message to all.
Digital Campaigning in future fights for electoral power?
Given the number of major elections taking place in the second half of 2024 and beyond, the importance of closely looking into digital campaign strategies is undeniable. Digital campaigning offers advantages, such as enhanced reach, engagement, cost-effectiveness, and refined voter targeting through data-driven strategies. However, it also poses significant risks, including the misuse of personal data, the rapid spread of misinformation, and increased cybersecurity threats.
The upcoming U.S. election will see unprecedented investments in digital campaigning due to the high political campaign budget ceiling. According to a new report from Insider Intelligence, digital campaigning spending is forecast to jump 156 per cent from the last presidential election year. As we observe these developments, lessons from the 2024 UK general election will be crucial in shaping how we monitor and respond to the upcoming elections worldwide.
