We are all aware of Facebook’s power when it comes to reaching the voter during the election campaigns. One of these campaigns went live on Tuesday promoted with #MyTown hashtag but taken down shortly after by Facebook.
The campaign may be a misuse
The campaign included more than 17 adverts, each costs £25 million published on the My Town page. It was designed by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and costs £3.6 billion.
Most people claim that the campaign was a misuse of public money. MyTown campaign mainly focusses on several election battlegrounds, such as Northampton, Milton Keynes, and Mansfield. Vote difference between the most popular two candidates was fewer than 2,000 votes in these places.
The reason behind Facebook’s removing the ads is declared as incorrect labeling of the content. A spokesman for Facebook claims:
Ads about social issues, elections or politics that appear on our platforms should include a disclaimer provided by advertisers.
A government spokesman said that the posts were published before the announcement of the election and claims:
All towns selected were chosen according to the same selection methodology, including analysis of deprivation, exposure to Brexit, productivity, economic resilience, and investment opportunities.