Social Media Monitoring

Quarterly Bulletin

 

I. Introduction

Digital platforms play an increasingly important role in contemporary political communication. Political parties, government institutions, media outlets, and other actors use social media to communicate political messages to broad audiences on a daily basis, while targeted advertising has become one of the key instruments of their communication strategies. In this context, public access to information on the scale of political advertising, its funding, and the principal advertisers is of particular importance, as it enhances the transparency of political communication and facilitates the identification of significant trends.

The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) regularly monitors advertisements related to elections, politics, and social issues disseminated to Georgian audiences through Meta platforms (Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger). The monitoring aims to examine the main advertisers, their advertising expenditures, and the key trends in political advertising campaigns on social media, while ensuring that this information is publicly accessible. Meta Ad Library provides publicly available data on advertisements related to elections, politics, and social issues, creating opportunities for the systematic analysis of political advertising in the digital environment. These data make it possible to identify which actors rely most extensively on political advertising, the financial resources invested in such campaigns, and how advertising activity changes over time.

This Quarterly Bulletin reviews advertisements related to political and social issues disseminated to Georgian audiences on Meta platforms during the third quarter of 2026, covering the period from 1 July through 28 September. The bulletin is based on data from Meta Ad Library and analyzes the number of advertisements published, advertising expenditures, the major advertisers, and changes compared with the second quarter of 2026. Particular attention is devoted to the advertising activities of political parties, government institutions, media outlets, and other political actors, as well as to the main trends observed during the reporting period.

 

II. Key Findings

• Compared with the previous quarter, advertising expenditure on political advertisements targeting Georgian audiences on Meta platforms decreased by 19% during July–September 2026, amounting to USD 279,755. The pronounced dominance of the government and the ruling party also persisted.
• Government institutions and public agencies accounted for 41% of total advertising expenditure, while Georgian Dream and its representatives accounted for 36%.
• The number of advertisements published by propaganda pages affiliated with Georgian Dream increased by 53% compared with the previous quarter.
• More than 78% of the total expenditure incurred by Georgian political parties on political advertisements on Meta platforms was attributable to Georgian Dream and its representatives.

 

 

III. Key Trends in Political Advertising on Meta Platforms

Between 1 July and 28 September 2026, a total of 8,447 advertisements labelled as relating to political or social issues were published on Facebook, Instagram, and/or Messenger by 670 pages and accounts targeting audiences in Georgia. The combined value of these advertisements amounted to USD 279,755, representing a decrease of approximately 19% compared with the advertising expenditure recorded during the previous quarter (USD 346,411).

During July–September 2026, approximately 41% of total expenditure on political advertisements targeting Georgian audiences on Meta platforms was attributable to government institutions and public agencies, while 36% was spent by Georgian Dream and its representatives.

During the mnitoring period, the highest number of advertisements (2,239) was published by government institutions and public agencies. At the same time, compared with the previous quarter, the number of advertisements published on pages belonging to Georgian Dream and its representatives, as well as government institutions and public agencies, declined substantially. In parallel, the number of advertisements published by propaganda pages affiliated with Georgian Dream increased significantly. Advertising activity also increased on the Facebook pages of media outlets operating in support of the ruling party.

 

IV. Major Advertising Pages: Activity, Expenditure and Trends

The majority (58%) of advertisements available in Meta Ad Library during the monitoring period were published by the 15 Facebook pages listed below. Among them, the most active was Akhla (ახლა • Akhla), a propaganda page affiliated with Georgian Dream that operates under the guise of an online media outlet. During the monitoring period, an average of 13 advertisements per day were published on this page.

The 15 largest advertisers by expenditure accounted for 69% of total advertising expenditure during the monitoring period. The official Facebook page of the Government of Georgia recorded the highest advertising expenditure. During the third quarter of 2026, advertisements published on this page amounted to nearly USD 45,000, slightly below the page's advertising expenditure in the previous quarter. Over the 90-day monitoring period, advertisements worth nearly USD 40,000 were published on the official Facebook page of Georgian Dream. The value of advertisements published on the Facebook page of Irakli Kobakhidze also exceeded USD 30,000.

 

V. Advertisements Published by Media Outlets

During the third quarter of 2026, political advertisements published by media outlets affiliated with Georgian Dream totalled 987, accounting for 85% of all advertisements (1,162) published on the pages of Georgian media outlets. Their advertising expenditure (at least USD 9,361) likewise accounted for 66% of total advertising expenditure by media outlets (at least USD 14,101). Among these outlets, the Rustavi 2 and NewsHub Facebook pages recorded the highest advertising expenditure, while Saerto Gazeti also stood out in terms of the number of advertisements published. Although advertisements were no longer published under the names of the Georgian media outlets sanctioned by the United Kingdom (Imedi and POSTV), advertising continued on the Facebook page of Game Show, a programme broadcast by POSTV, during the third quarter of 2026.

 

VI. Political Parties' Advertising Campaigns

Georgian Dream continued to dominate political advertising campaigns on Meta platforms, accounting for more than 78% of the total amount spent by all Georgian political parties on political advertisements. During the third quarter of 2026, 1,174 advertisements worth nearly USD 100,000 were published on the Facebook pages of Georgian Dream and its affiliated politicians.