Snapchat political ads used by Democrats more than Republicans in 2022 – USA Today

WASHINGTON — Using campaign-inspired selfie filters and quick videos urging people to register to vote, candidates and advocacy groups have taken to Snapchat for political advertising in 2022, and none more so than those on the left.Candidates and interest groups have spent more than $10 million on Snapchat political ads this year, an increase of more than 1,600% since 2018, the first year the social media platform allowed political ads. Yet, it’s a drop in the bucket compared to ad spending on other social networks, according to J. Scott Babwah Brennen, head of online expression policy at the University of North Carolina’s Center on Technology Policy.”There are single (ad) campaigns that are bigger than that,” Babwah Brennen said. The political ad tracking firm AdImpact projects more than $1.4 billion will be spent on digital advertising as a whole during the 2022 election cycle.In the last month alone, Democrat Beto O’Rourke’s campaign for Texas governor spent one-quarter of Snap’s 2022 total political ad spends on just Facebook political ads. But Snapchat is one of a handful of social media platforms actively used by young people — almost 60%, according to Pew Research Center — that allows political advertising, increasing its potential as a powerful tool for registering and courting voters. Platforms like TikTok, Twitter and BeReal, where many young people
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