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Since the outbreak of the pandemic, the federal government, ministries and states have spent several million euros on advertisements related to Corona on social networks.

In the name of the federal government alone, advertisements were placed on various platforms for almost 1.4 million euros in the past twelve months, as the responsible press and information office announced on request.

The Federal Ministry of Health also spent millions (around 1.3 million euros) on advertising on Facebook last year, as a spokesman said.

"The entire budget was used for content related to the Corona issue," it says.

In addition, other public bodies related to pandemics also advertised on the platforms (Facebook and Instagram) of the US group.

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That comes from a WELT AM SONNTAG evaluation of the public advertising library of Facebook.

In addition to the Federal Ministry of Labor, the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate were among the political actors who placed particularly high-reach advertising on the platforms.

The opposition laments the dependence on US corporations.

"Unfortunately there is no real alternative to the big American social media platforms," ​​said Manuel Höferlin, digital politician and member of the federal board of the FDP, WELT AM SONNTAG.

“It takes revenge that Germany and Europe have been criminally neglecting to build their own digital ecosystem for many years.” Although competition experts do not see a fundamental problem in the government's social media ads, there are doubts about the effect.

"One can certainly question whether it makes sense at all for ministries to spend money on advertising," said Justus Haucap, economist and former chairman of the Monopolies Commission.

After all, the federal government is promoting a vaccination campaign, even though there is still no vaccine for most of them.

"I'm very skeptical as to whether this advertising really has a measurable effect," said Haucap.