Virtual Battle

The virtual advertising battle is yet to take off, even as it is expected that political parties' social media spends will rise by over 150 per cent this election.

Social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter are gearing up to combat fake news. Facebook has expanded its third party fact-checking programme in India; and Twitter has launched its ads transparency centre in India through which it would show billing details of all political ad campaigns. These measures, however, haven't translated into incremental ads from political parties. The 2019 elections are expected to see a fair bit of buzz on social media platforms, but as of now, it looks like the bulk of the action will come from politicians' personal handles. While many BJP politicians are veterans on Twitter, now even Priyanka Gandhi and Mayawati have made their Twitter debuts.