Citizens’ Services Minister Terry Beech and five other Liberal MPs have been buying Facebook ads in the last month despite cabinet announcing a boycott of government advertising on that media platform.
Mr. Beech spent $1,094 on Facebook ads, as per records from parent company Meta, according to Blacklock’s Reporter. His ads were placed to assure his constituents in Burnaby, B.C., that he is “working hard” for them.
On June 22, Meta announced it would no longer be sharing Canadian news content on Facebook and Instagram for all users in Canada, prior to the Online News Act (Bill C-18) taking effect, obliging big tech companies to pay for press links.
Cabinet, in turn, announced July 5 it would withdraw all federal advertising from Facebook and Instagram, valued at $11.4 million. A total of $4.3 million was previously spent on Facebook advertising by parties since the 2019 general election.
“Are we going to let ourselves be intimidated?” then-heritage minister Pablo Rodriguez said at a press conference at the time. “We can’t. If the government and politicians don’t stand up to that kind of bullying or intimidation, who will? They are big. So what?”
Nevertheless, since the boycott was set in motion, the Liberal Party has spent $7,206 on advertising on Facebook, placed after the ban was implemented, according to Blacklock’s.
Meta records show the other four Liberal MP ad-placers, who all paid under $200 each, as: MPs Iqwinder Gaheer (Mississauga-Malton, Ont.), Wayne Long (Saint John-Rothesay), Ryan Turnbull (Whitby, Ont.) and Nathaniel Erskine-Smith (Beaches-East York, Ont.), who is currently campaigning for leadership of the Ontario Liberal Party.
Minister Rodriguez declined to comment on the Liberal Party’s marketing strategy regarding the boycott.
Office of the Ethics Commissioner filings indicate that two Liberal MPs, James Maloney (Etobicoke-Lakeshore, Ont.) and Taleeb Noormohamed (Vancouver Granville), hold undisclosed numbers of Facebook shares in their stock portfolios. Neither is commenting on whether they will join the ban.
