Social Media Monitoring

Quarterly Bulletin

 

I. Introduction

Digital platforms play an increasingly important role in contemporary political communication. Political parties, public institutions, media outlets, and other actors use social media to communicate political messages to broad audiences daily, 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 second quarter of 2026, covering the period from 1 April through 29 June. The report is based on data from the Meta Ad Library and analyzes the number of advertisements published, advertising expenditures, the major advertisers, and changes compared with the first quarter of 2026. Particular attention is devoted to the advertising activities of political parties, government institutions, media organizations, 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 increased by 5.9% during April–June 2026. 

• 43% of total advertising expenditure was accounted for by the Georgian Dream party and its representatives, while 38% was spent by government institutions and public agencies. 

• Compared with the previous quarter, Georgian Dream and its representatives increased their advertisement expenses on Meta platforms by 47% between 1 April and 29 June, while government pages increased their advertising expenditure by 34%. 

• The advertising expenditure of Georgian Dream’s satellite parties increased 3.7-fold compared with the previous quarter. 

• Following the United Kingdom's sanctions, TV Imedi completely ceased advertising on Meta platforms. Advertisements under the name of the second sanctioned broadcaster, POSTV, were no longer published; however, a limited number of advertisements continued to appear on the Facebook page of one of the broadcaster's television programmes. 

• More than 84% of all advertising expenditure incurred by Georgian political parties on Meta political advertisements was attributable to Georgian Dream and its representatives. 

 

III. Key Trends in Political Advertising on Meta Platforms 

Between 1 April and 29 June 2026, a total of 8,947 advertisements labelled as relating to political or social issues were published on Facebook, Instagram and/or Messenger by 580 pages and accounts targeting audiences in Georgia. The combined value of these advertisements amounted to USD 346,411, representing an increase of approximately 6% compared with the advertising expenditure recorded during the first quarter of 2026 (USD 327,165). 

Indicator	April 1 - June 29, 2026	January 1 - March 31, 2026	Change
Pages/accounts publishing political advertisements	580	489	+18.61%
Number of advertisements	8,947	8,967	-0.22%
Advertising expenditure (USD)	346,411	327,165	+5.88%

 

During the reporting period, 43% of total spending on political advertisements targeting Georgian audiences was attributable to Georgian Dream and its representatives, while 38% was spent by government institutions and public agencies. Compared with the previous quarter, Georgian Dream and its representatives increased their advertising expenditure by 47%, whereas government pages increased their spending by 34%. At the same time, the combined advertising expenditure of parties aligned with Georgian Dream - People's Power, United Neutral Georgia, and European Socialists - increased 3.7 times during the monitoring period. Conversely, advertising expenditure by media outlets affiliated with Georgian Dream declined by 87%. This sharp decrease followed the sanctions imposed by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on the Georgian broadcasters TV Imedi and POSTV, which resulted in restrictions on advertising through their Facebook pages. 

Note: The figures for each category represent the minimum amount spent. 

 

During the monitoring period, the Government of Georgia and public institutions published the highest number of ads (2,782). Compared to the previous quarter, the number of ads published increased across all categories, with the exception of media outlets affiliated with Georgian Dream. In the latter category, the number of ads declined 3.6 times compared to the January-March period of 2026. 

 

IV. Major Advertising Pages: Activity, Expenditure and Trends 

More than half (52%) of all advertisements available in the Meta Ad Library during the monitoring period were published by the 15 Facebook pages listed below. Among them, the official Facebook page of the Government of Georgia was the most active advertiser, publishing an average of 10 advertisements per day throughout the monitoring period. 

The 15 largest advertisers by expenditure accounted for 71% of all advertising spending during the monitoring period. The official Facebook page of Georgian Dream recorded the highest advertising expenditure. During the second quarter of 2026, advertisements published through the party's official page exceeded USD 70,000, representing a 66% increase compared with the previous quarter. The official Facebook page of the Government of Georgia ranked second, with advertising expenditure approaching USD 50,000 during the three-month period. The official page of Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze ranked third, with approximately USD 37,000 spent on advertisements during the reporting period. 

Compared with the first quarter of 2026, the sharpest decline in the number of advertisements was observed on Facebook pages associated with pro-government media outlets, including POSTV, TV Imedi, Rustavi 2, and NewsHub. Notably, POSTV News, POSTV – Analytics, POSTV – News, and TV Imedi published no advertisements at all during April–June 2026. At the same time, advertising activity increased substantially on the pages of Akhla, a false media outlet affiliated with Georgian Dream, and Saerto Gazeti, a pro-government media outlet. A marked increase in advertising activity was also recorded on the official Facebook pages of the Government of Georgia, several ministries, the Parliament of Georgia, Georgian Dream, People's Power, as well as on the anonymous pro-government page Supporters of the Dream, among others. 

Top 5 Facebook Pages by Increase and Decrease in Published Ads 

Sanctioned pro-government media outlets also recorded the sharpest declines in advertising expenditure. In particular, the three Facebook pages of POSTV and Imedi – POSTV - Analytics, POSTV News, and TV Imedi – are noteworthy. While ads worth USD 58,451 were published on these pages during the first quarter of 2026, no ads were published in the second quarter. During the April-June period, advertising expenditure on the Rustavi 2 Facebook page also declined substantially. A significant decrease was also observed in the advertising expenditure of the official Facebook page of the political party Strong Georgia - Lelo, For the People, For Freedom!, which fell by 66%. At the same time, advertising expenditure on the official Georgian Dream Facebook page increased by the same percentage. In the second quarter of 2026, the official Facebook page of Georgian Dream was followed by the pages of the Government of Georgia, Minister of Defence Irakli Chikovani, the Georgian Dream Youth Organization, the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture, the political party People’s Power, and others in terms of growth in advertising expenditure. 

 

Top 5 Facebook Pages by Increase and Decrease in Advertising Expenditure 

 

 

V. Advertisements Published by Media Outlets 

Despite advertising restrictions affecting the two pro-government media outlets that had previously been among the most active users of sponsored posts on Meta platforms - Imedi and POSTV - political ads published by media outlets affiliated with Georgian Dream still accounted for 844 ads, representing 78% of all ads (1,083) published by Georgian media outlets during the second quarter of 2026. Their advertising expenditure (at least USD 11,582) likewise accounted for 75% of the total advertising expenditure by media outlets (at least USD 15,508). 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 ads published. Although no ads were published under the POSTV brand during the reporting period, advertisements continued to appear on the Facebook page of one of the broadcaster's programmes, Game Show, throughout the second quarter of 2026. 

 

 

VI. Political Parties' Advertising Campaigns 

Georgian Dream continued to dominate political advertising campaigns on Meta platforms, accounting for more than 84% of the total amount spent by all Georgian political parties on political ads. During the second quarter of 2026, 1,729 ads worth nearly USD 150,000 were published on the Facebook pages of Georgian Dream and its affiliated politicians. Notably, unlike in the previous reporting period, parties aligned with Georgian Dream - People's Power and United Neutral Georgia - ranked second and third, respectively, in terms of advertising expenditure during the second quarter of 2026. Together, the pages of these parties and their representatives published 387 ads with a combined value of USD 15,893.