Conservative-leaning pages invest more money and run more sponsored advertising ads than progressive ones in Brazil, according to data made available by (the company that owns the two social networks) and analyzed by an entity that researches digital communication.
The volume of resources applied by the 20 largest conservative advertisers, from 2020 to 2024, is 3.3 times greater than that spent by progressives, according to the survey carried out by the Brief project, an initiative linked to Quid, a Brazilian civil society organization that defines itself as as a cause communication laboratory.
To obtain a portrait of what they call the “public opinion dispute” and “communicative clash” on the networks, the researchers focused on the group of advertisers that they classified as “society” and covers the pages of NGOs, press vehicles and content producers.
The categories “power” (parties, politicians and governments) and “market” (companies, associations and commercial channels) were left out of the analysis.
The objective was to delve into the “dispute for hearts and minds”, excluding pages of a purely electoral nature, sales and brand promotion. Ads can be targeted by contractors to reach specific profiles of social media users.
The ranking of the 20 largest advertisers involved in the cultural war between ideological camps is headed by the production company, a reference in the field of right-wing content.
The company spent R$26.6 million to boost 75,391 ads between August 2020 and August this year — a period for which data is available in Meta’s ad library.
Second place, with more modest figures, is , also with a conservative tendency, which invested R$4.3 million in 2,194 publications. In third comes an organization labeled by the study as progressive, Greenpeace Brasil, with R$4.1 million and 5,879 advertisements.
In the universe of the 20 main advertisers, spending was R$33.8 million by conservatives, R$10.3 million by progressives and R$1.8 million by pages classified as centrist.
For social scientist Ricardo Borges Martins, coordinator of the survey, the predominance of conservatives in the analyzed universe is an indication that this segment increases the potential to influence the public debate by combining high investment and sophistication of strategies.
One of the tactics observed in advertisers in this field is that they work with a larger number of ads. The pages create several similar contents, with small variations, which are tested to discover which performs best and should receive a higher investment.
“There is a greater willingness on the part of conservatism to enter the public debate by addressing different topics, while the progressive side has organizations that tend to remain on their agendas”, he says, who defines Brief himself as a member of the second group, but says that the survey took into account numbers provided by Meta and was guided by technical criteria, without interference in the database.
Brasil Paralelo, which the researchers describe in the conclusions as a producer that practices “historical revisionism” and presents “narratives that contradict established scientific research”, appears in the study as the absolute record holder for spending in Brazil on sponsored content on Meta.
The amount spent by the producer is greater than that of all advertisers, regardless of category.
Its R$ 26.6 million exceeds the R$ 11.3 million invested by the federal government’s Social Communication Secretariat, which is in second place overall, and the R$ 10.6 million in the beverage company and third in the ranking.
For comparison purposes, the study shows that the producer spent much more than the political figure who channeled the most money into paid advertisements, the former president (), who invested R$2.8 million in promotion and reached the top of the category “power”.
In terms of number of advertisements, the difference to other advertising contractors at Meta is also large. The 75 thousand published by Brasil Paralelo easily surpass the 52 thousand of the second place in the general ranking, a page aimed at competitive candidates called Meu Preparatório.
The producer’s amount is so superlative that those responsible for the survey simulated an analysis without its data, to check whether the conclusion about the correlation of forces would be distorted. But, even if the leaders Brasil Paralelo and Greenpeace are excluded, the predominance of the conservatives remains, with an investment of R$7.2 million, compared to R$6.2 million by the progressives.
The role of algorithms in the distribution of content was not included in the survey, but the coordinator states that conservatives and far-right actors appear to have “a better understanding of the dynamics of social networks” than the progressive sector.
“They have shown themselves to be more capable of delivering content that boosts the algorithms,” says Martins.
When contacted, Brasil Paralelo refuted the descriptions of the study about the producer and said in a note that its contents “have always rejected any extremist line, whether on the right or the left” and are guided by “defending the rule of law, democracy, defense of life, private property and debate with sides of different understandings”.
“The company’s process is rigorous in the search for truth, always checking facts, promoting errata when necessary and sticking to the best historiography and research material available.”
The company also mentioned Brief’s progressive line and stated that the project’s opinions “do not seek exemption from an ideological point of view, but rather the exercise of a power thesis.”
The producer did not respond directly to the company’s questions. Sheet about its promotion strategies, limiting itself to saying that its commercial model is “guided by editorial honesty, customer satisfaction and a desire for a prosperous, peaceful, democratic and plural Brazil”.
Biggest advertisers in Meta’s ad library
1º – Brasil Paralelo – R$ 26.6 million – 75,391 ads
2º – Oeste Magazine – R$4.3 million – 2,194 ads
3º – Greenpeace Brazil – R$4.1 million – 5,879 ads
4º – ICL (Liberta Knowledge Institute) – R$ 1.8 million – 6,109 ads
5º – Ranking of Politicians – R$ 1.3 million – 1,324 ads
6º – Paulo Guedes – R$ 789.7 thousand – 212 ads
7º – Go There and Vote – R$ 769.8 thousand – 71 ads
8º – Oxfam Brazil – R$ 759.2 thousand – 4,106 ads
9º – Safernet Brasil – R$ 754.4 thousand – 114 ads
10º – Everyone for Education – R$ 694.2 thousand – 379 ads
Breakdown of spending among the 20 largest advertisers
R$33.8 million
was the total spent by the conservatives
R$ 10.3 million
was the total spent by progressives
R$ 1.8 million
was the total spent by those in the center
Source: data from the Meta ad library (Aug.2020 to Aug.2024) tabulated by the Brief project
