Federal government spending on ads on Facebook, Instagram and other social media apps has more than doubled in ten years at the same time the government is trying to regulate the tech giants and possibly ban children from their platforms.
Government departments and agencies are now spending more than $50 million a year on digital advertising to inform Australians on youth issues such as vaping and consent, despite the Labor government calling for a ban on under-16s and increased regulation of social media networks.
Some experts are calling for the government to use that spending power to bring the tech giants to heel.
An analysis of campaign advertising data from the Department of Finance found government expenditure on digital media ads had increased dramatically, from $28 million in 2014-15 to $56.3 million in 2022-23.
Government spending on social media ads has continued to increase over the past decade despite federal attempts to make the platforms to pay for Australian news, to disclose the mechanisms behind their algorithms and to take down violent content.
Media researcher at the University of Sydney, Dr Rob Nicholls, said cutting government ad expenditure on social media would "absolutely" force the tech giants to think more about their actions.
He referred to the federal government's decision to pause ad expenditure in 2021, when Meta blocked access to news media and health departments' pages on Facebook.
"The threat of Commonwealth government advertising being dropped made much more of a significant threat," he said.
"The Commonwealth spends a big proportion of its money on digital, and primarily that's with Meta.
"[The government] works with Google directly, but also indirectly using Google ad manager, so the impact [of reduced expenditure] would be significant."
The Department of Finance refused a request to provide a detailed breakdown of advertising by social media platform, with the data provided including expenditure on digital video, display, social media, and search functions.
The federal government announced in September it wants to legislate a social ban for Australian children to protect them from the risks and dangers on the platform.
Prime Minister Albanese said the legislation would be brought to parliament before the end of 2024.
Departments splash out for Insta ads
Spending on social media campaigns has increased substantially at the Department of Defence with more than $62.5 million spent on TV, radio and social media advertising in 2022-23, an increase of about a third on the $43.4 million spent in 2014-15.
The armed forces' recruiting campaign alone spent $19.2 million on digital media advertising in 2022-23, almost half the campaign's total marketing budget.
The department's ads have been a frequent sight on TikTok and Instagram, with recruitment campaigns aimed at encouraging younger Australians to consider a career with the armed forces that is "more than just a job".
The Department of Health's advertising spend for COVID-19 vaccinations was the second most expensive campaign of 2022-23, with more than $36.8 million paid to the government's master media agency Universal McCann to roll out the ads across media formats.
More than $5 million of that funding went into digital media, according to the Department of Finance.
Local news feels impact
Increased government spending on social media has had significant consequences for other media outlets. Regional publishers, for example, say government ad spending in country newspapers fell by 70 per cent in 2002-2023.
Managing director of media company ACM, Tony Kendall, said regional news providers like ACM, publisher of this masthead, had been urging the federal government for years to steer more of its ad budget to trusted news sources like local newspapers instead of foreign tech platforms that don't employ Australian journalists.
"We live in hope but, unfortunately, it seems the federal government can't wrap its head around the concept of giving local newspapers serving regional communities a fair share of government advertising," Mr Kendall said.
"They don't need to use more taxpayers' money for this, just divert some of the millions already being spent to advertise on the same social media platforms that pay no tax while destroying the fabric of our communities."
In NSW, Premier Chris Minns says he backs a social media ban at age 16 so long as there is a uniform approach across states and territories.
"I think it's warranted, given this is, in my view, a global, unregulated experiment on young people and the prevalent use of social media," Mr Minns told Sky News.
And yet the NSW government continues to spend advertising dollars on social media, even as it cuts advertising in regional newspapers by 40 per cent.
Information gap
Social media researcher Dr Catherine Page Jeffry from the University of Sydney said the removal of government advertising from social media platforms would not be enough to influence the tech companies.
She said the government's spending on social media advertising would be "a drop in the bucket" globally.
"I'm not sure that trying to wield any power in terms of, we'll pull our advertising if you don't do this, would hold much sway," she said.
"And I don't think that's the right approach."
Dr Nicholls said while cutting spending on social media would send a message to the tech companies, communicating to the people of Australia would become more difficult.
"I don't think it's just the government being afraid to use its bargaining power, I think it's just that people expect to be advertised to and informed using social media or in other digital platforms," he said.
The social media ad industry
Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, was the most important social media platform for advertisers according to the ACCC's Digital Platforms Services inquiry in 2023.
Australia spent up to $5.1 billion on advertising with Meta in the 2021-22 financial year, according to the ACCC inquiry.
The inquiry found that Meta's consumer reach and targeting capabilities pushed it far ahead of other platforms combined.
"Meta continues to capture the vast majority of advertising spend on social media platforms in Australia," the report noted.
"The combined Australian advertising revenue of YouTube, TikTok, Twitter and Snapchat is significantly less than Meta's Australian advertising revenue."
The overall time spent on Meta's social media services was more than double the time spent on TikTok, and among its closest competitors it retained more than 60 per cent of the share of time spent on mobile apps since 2020, the inquiry concluded.
