The biggest election campaign spenders on digital media have been revealed by online political database, WhoTargets.Me.
For the three months (26 January to 25 April, 2025) on Google and Meta, the Labor Party spent the most ($9,135,794), followed by the Liberal Party ($8,930,148) and Clive Palmer’s Trumpet of Patriots ($6,627,935).
Despite the hype, Climate 200 and Independent candidates spent around half the amount ($5,203,001) of the Labor Party’s combined pages.
Google & Meta
Total spend: $36,951,401
Total political advertisers: 3,649
Top spenders
- Australian Labor Party: $9,135,794
- Liberal Party: $8,930,148
- Trumpet of Patriots: $6,627,935
- Others: $5,387,689
- Independents: $5,203,001
‘Others’ top spenders
- Unions: $1,230,953
- Advance: $813,034
- Hothouse Magazine: $407,055
- Nuclear for Australia: $260,856
- Clean Energy Council: $191,245
Climate Communications charity Comms Declare is promoting WhoTargets.Me to increase advertising transparency and literacy.
Belinda Noble, Founder of Comms Declare said, “While the major parties are spending the most on ads, third parties and front groups are playing a huge role in trying to persuade voters, often with misleading information, hidden agendas and deep pockets.”
“Information trench warfare is underway in marginal seats and new astroturfing groups are still being created on Facebook, days out from the election.
“The spending data we found is only the tip of the iceberg but gives an important indicator about the overall trend,” added Noble
‘Top spenders’ are calculated by adding together the many pages controlled by, or known to be funded by, one party across Facebook, Instagram and Google. It does not include other platforms such as TikTok or LinkedIn, or pages whose funding sources are not known. Combined spending by unions and Advance in ‘others’ does not include all their known pages, but only those in the top 20.
