Flemish parties Vlaams Belang and N-VA were the biggest spenders on social media advertising among political parties in Europe last year. Between them, they spent 3.4 million euros on adverts on Facebook and Instagram, more than half the combined total of all Belgian parties.
Belgium’s political parties spent a total of just over 6 million euros on social media advertising last year, an increase of 1 million from 2022. The far-right Vlaams Belang, Flemish nationalists N-VA and far-left PVDA spent the most.
Vlaams Belang was the biggest spender on Facebook and Instagram, at just under 1.7 million euros, 8,000 euros more than N-VA. PVDA-PTB was a long way behind in third place, at 637,000 euros.
Despite there being no elections in Belgium in 2023, Vlaams Belang and N-VA were the top spenders in Europe on political ads.
The figures come from AdLens, a citizen collective that studies political adverts on social media, based on data from Facebook’s ad library.
Increased spending
Among Francophone parties, the far-left PVDA-PTB spent the most – almost 180,000 euros – followed by Christian democrats Les Engagés (formerly CDH), which spent just under 144,000 euros. All parties spent more than the previous year, except for PVDA-PTB.
The highest spenders among individual politicians were party leaders Tom Van Grieken (Vlaams Belang), Raoul Hedebouw (PVDA-PTB) and Bart De Wever (N-VA). Hedebouw spent almost seven times as much on his Dutch-language page as on his French-language page. PVDA-PTB is the only national party represented in Parliament.
The biggest individual spenders were mostly men, with just two women in the top 15. One of those is Melissa Depraetere, the leader of Flemish socialists Vooruit, who took over after the resignation of Conner Rousseau. The only Francophone politician in the top 15 is Georges-Louis Bouchez, leader of liberal party MR.
The four-month pre-election period begins on 9 February, imposing limits on what parties and polititicans are allowed to spend on communication.