The government has spent more than a quarter of a million pounds on Facebook adverts about the Brexit deadline date of October 31st – despite MPs trying to force their hand to delay the date.
Figures from the social network showed the UK government had spent £216,613 on the adverts between September 8 and September 14 – taking the total to £256,275 in 30 days.
The “get ready for Brexit” campaign, reportedly costing the taxpayer £100 million, has also seen the messaging placed on billboards, bus stops and other social media platforms.
Spending figures for those platforms have not been made publicly available so the total spent so far is likely to be far higher than the number outlined by Facebook.
MORE: Government ‘get ready for Brexit’ ads have ended up on The New European podcast
MORE: It’s time for urgent action against Facebook campaigning before the next election
Boris Johnson has claimed the UK will still leave the EU on October 31 “no ifs, no buts”, despite MPs passing a law appearing to bar an exit without a deal.
The latest spending figures come after the Conservative Party was accused of misrepresenting a BBC News article in a Facebook advert.
Fact-checking charity Full Fact found the Tories had been running adverts that linked to a BBC story and contained the headline “£14 billion cash boost for schools”. However, the article itself put the figure at £7.1 billion.
A Conservative Party spokesman said: “It was not our intention to misrepresent by using this headline copy with the news link, where the BBC’s £7 billion figure is clearly displayed, but we are reviewing how our advert headlines match accompanying links.”
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