- The Washington Times - Wednesday, November 4, 2020

Facebook raked in more than $200 million from paid advertisements placed on its platforms by the Trump and Biden campaigns in the 18 months leading up to this week’s presidential election.

President Trump’s reelection campaign spent $112,746,006 in advertising on Facebook and Instagram between May 7, 2018, and Nov. 2, 2020, right before both platforms temporarily paused political ads.

Democratic nominee Joseph R. Biden’s campaign spent $101,215,565 on Facebook and Instagram ads during that same 18-month span, which began well before he announced his candidacy in April 2019.

Facebook makes the figures available through its online “Ad Library,” which contains information about political content paid to appear on its platforms, including dates and targeted demographics.

Combined, Facebook pages associated and affiliated with the Trump and Biden campaigns spent a total of $213,961,571 advertising on the platforms during the presidential race, according to the data.

Voting in the presidential race ended with polls closing Tuesday evening, but the outcome, as expected, remained unknown as of the following afternoon.

Facebook announced in early September that it would not allow new political ads to run in the week before Election Day.

More recently, Facebook announced last month it would be temporarily suspending all “social issue, electoral or political ads” in the immediate aftermath of voting ending Tuesday evening.

• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.

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