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Prabowo Subianto outspends other presidential candidates on social media ads: Meta
Recent data from Meta Platform’s Ad Library show that Prabowo Subianto spent Rp 8.67 billion (US$543,983) between August 2020 and October 2023.
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Indonesia's defense minister and presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto, along with his running mate, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, who is the eldest son of Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and mayor of Surakarta, gestures as he arrives to register for next year's presidential election, at the election commission headquarters in Jakarta on Oct. 25, 2023. (Reuters/Willy Kurniawan)
Presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto has outspent all other candidates on social media advertising, spending a total of Rp 8.67 billion (US$543,983) so far on his campaign.
According to data from Meta Platform's Ad Library, Prabowo, who is also the country's defense minister, spent the social media advertising budget between August 2020 and October 2023.
Of this amount, Prabowo's supporter group Indonesia Adil Makmur spent Rp 6.2 billion, more than 70 percent of his total spending. The group spent around Rp 500 million per month on Facebook and Instagram advertising alone.
Bakti Untuk Rakyat, another advertising account linked to the presidential candidate, spent Rp 366 million on social media ads in August and September 2023. This figure increased to Rp 514 million in October 2023, suggesting that the declaration and registration of presidential and vice presidential candidates in October boosted ad spending.
Combined with other advertiser accounts, Prabowo's social media advertising spending averages Rp 1 billion per month.
Presidential candidate Ganjar Pranowo spent Rp 3.62 billion on social media advertising from August 2020 to Oct. 24, 2023. The campaign team of the former Central Java governor displayed the ads through several accounts, including Melihat Indonesia, Ganjar Nusantara Indonesia and Ganjar-Fans.
Presidential hopeful Anies Baswedan, spent Rp 930.54 million on social media advertising. The former Jakarta governor also used multiple accounts to advertise, such as Unboxing Anies, Fakta Anies Baswedan, Aksi Tanggap Anies and Suara Anies.
These expenditures are proportional to each candidate's wealth, with Prabowo reporting the most wealth compared with the other two presidential candidates.
According to the 2022 State Official Wealth Report (LHKPN) by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), Prabowo has assets worth Rp 2 trillion, making the chairman of the Gerindra Party the wealthiest among the three candidates. Ganjar, who is supported by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the country's largest political party, has assets of Rp 15.4 billion, while Anies has assets of Rp 11.2 billion.
The findings are consistent with a previous data mining study from the Independent Election Awareness Committee (KISP) and Muda Bicara ID conducted through Meta Platforms’ Facebook and Instagram from Aug. 4, 2020, to July 16, 2023.
The study revealed that Prabowo spent the most on social media ads, at Rp 4 billion, followed by Ganjar (Rp 2 billion) and Anies (Rp 160 million).
