Questions are being asked after Google’s latest Transparency Report highlighted the aggressive ad spend of Australian politician Clive Palmer over recent months.
Palmer’s United Australia Party was by far the top spender in Australia according to the data, spending over $1.2 million on Google and YouTube since November 2020.
To put United Australia Party’s ad spend into perspective, Google says there has been a total of $1.5 million spent on political advertising in Australia over this time period – meaning UAP accounts for around 80 per cent.
The Federal Labor Party was the second-biggest spender, paying $53,850.
The report also shows that a number of Palmer’s ads were able to generate between 1 and 10 million total impressions (costing over $100,000), including one ad that violated Google’s Advertising Policies.
UAP’s ads touch on a number of different topics, such as vaccine mandates, lockdowns and nuclear submarine deals.
Google has taken to publishing these transparency reports in recent times as a way to hold political advertisers accountable and show voters how much spend certain candidates are putting behind their campaigns.
United Australia Party’s ad spend is by no means reserved for Google and YouTube.
Earlier this month, millions of Australians were bombarded with auto-generated text messages from UAP politician Craig Kelly.
The campaign saw Australia‘s medical regulator the TGA threaten Kelly with legal action over “incorrect” information about vaccines.
