Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1122280
4 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 26 MAY 2019 NEWS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 The Facebook pages of the two major party leaders, Jo- seph Muscat and Adrian De- lia spent €3,920 and €6,348 on Facebook ads respectively. These were paid for by their respective parties. The data shows that the PN's highest spender was in- cumbent MEP David Casa, spending a total of €6,853 on Facebook ads since March. In the last week of campaigning, between 16 April and May 23, Casa spent €2,762. For the PL, incumbent Al- fred Sant was the highest spender with €6,326 spent since March. Of these, €2,328 were spent between 16 April and 23 May. This contrasted with the front-runners for the major parties, Labour MEP Miriam Dalli and Nationalist MEP Roberta Metsola. Metsola spent €1,901 since March, less than half of that (€633) in the last week of the electoral campaign. Dalli spent far less on Facebook ads, buying just €409 worth of advertising. Of these, €132 were spent in the last week of the campaign. Metsola spent just 27.7% of Casa's full amount. Dalli spent 6.5% of her PL colleague Alfred Sant's full amount. The other big spender for PN was incumbent Francis Zam- mit Dimech, who spent €5,032 for his campaign on Facebook. All incumbents, except for La- bour MEP Marlene Mizzi, are running for re-election. But while Metsola has polled highly in MaltaToday surveys, the prospect of a Labour land- slide in these elections has placed in doubt the third PN seat, which would leave pro- spective MEP Frank Psaila breathing down the neck of incumbent David Casa. The other big Labour spend- er after Sant was Cyrus En- gerer, spending €4,895 in paid Facebook advertising. Engerer had already withdrawn from the 2014 election for MEP over a criminal court case, and is now running for MEP after spending several years working in Brussels in the government's permanent rep- resentation to the EU. For the PN, candidates Mi- chael Briguglio (€1,696), Rose- lyn Borg Knight (€1,175) and David Stellini (€1,575) spent over €1,000 while the argu- ably more popular candidates Frank Psaila and Peter Agius spent just €472 and €784 re- spectively on Facebook ads. For the PL, after Alfred Sant and Cyrus Engerer, for- mer Labour MP Joe Sammut spent the most on Facebook ads, shelling out €3,547 since March. The younger and more pop- ular PL candidates, Alex Agi- us Saliba and Josianne Cutajar spent €1,591 and €305 respective- ly. On the other hand, Labour candidate Robert Micallef's Face- book campaign cost him €1,197 while former Orizzont editor Josef Caruana's adverts amount- ed to €768. The PN's Di- one Borg was the only candi- date between the two major par- ties who did not spend a single penny on Face- book ads. Other candi- dates, like Mi- chael Mercie- ca for the PN, James Grech, Felix Galea Bu- suttil and Mary Gauci for the PL and Mina Tolu for Alternat- tiva Demokratika spent €100 on Facebook adver- tising without disclaiming the political nature of their promo- tions. For this reason, Facebook took down their adverts and reimbursed them. Facebook requires that all political advertisements are claimed to be political in na- ture. The social media compa- ny's transparency on paid po- litical advertising stems from recent advertising rules fol- lowing Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's grilling in the US Congress. Zuckerberg came under fire after Cambridge Analytica, a data-mining firm affiliated with US President Donald Trump collected personal da- ta of Facebook users to alleg- edly drive Trump's political campaign. After the two major parties, the most spent on Facebook advertising came from Partit Demokratiku. Martin Cauchi Inglott and Anthony Butti- gieg were the only two who made use of paid advertising, spending a combined total of €1,317. Independent candidates Ar- nold Cassola and Stephen Florian spent a total of €100 and €471 on Facebook ads re- spectively. Cassola was reim- bursed for not disclaiming the political nature of his ad. Alleanza Bidla's candidates Rebecca Dalli Gonzi and Ivan Grech Mintoff (using his TV programme's Exodus page) used paid advertising on Face- book, spending €156 and €203 respectively since March. The remaining parties: Im- perium Europa; Moviment Patrijotti Maltin; and Brain, Not Ego spent no money on Facebook ads, according to the aggregate data. dhudson@mediatoday.com.mt THE NEW EURO BANKNOTES e new €100 and €200 will be introduced in all the euro area countries on 28 May 2019. It is important that you familiarise yourself with the security features using the feel, look and tilt method. NEW SECURITY FEATURES WHEN TILTING THE BANKNOTES Emerald number the emerald number shows € symbols Satellite hologram small € symbols move around the number THE CURRENT €100 AND €200 BANKNOTES WILL REMAIN LEGAL TENDER OTHER SECURITY FEATURES 2 3 2 5 6 1 6 4 Raised print Portrait watermark Hologram stripe Portrait window 6 6 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 28 MAY 2019 www.centralbankmalta.org www.ecb.europa.eu/banknotes parties' spending on social media ads over the last three months • no aggregate data for Partit Laburista compiled yet All paying entities on Facebook ranked by total spend (€) Partit Nazzjonalista David Casa Adrian Delia Alfred Sant Francis Zammit Dimech Cyrus Engerer Joseph Muscat Joe Sammut Roberta Metsola Michael Briguglio Alex Agius Saliba David Stellini Robert Micallef for MEP Roselyn Borg Knight Josef Caruana Lorna Vassallo Peter Agius Martin Cauchi Inglott II Dr. Anthony Buttigieg Frank Psaila Stephen Florian Miriam Dalli Noel Cassar Alternattiva Demokratika - ... Josianne Cutajar FŻL - Forum Żgħażagħ Laburisti Exodus (Alleanza Bidla) Martin Cauchi Inglott Dr. Rebecca Dalli Gonzi Malta Qabel Kollox Mina Tolu 24,042 6,853 6,348 6,326 5,032 4,895 3,920 3,547 1,901 1,678 1,591 1,575 1,197 1,175 768 767 748 620 507 472 471 409 382 342 305 222 203 190 156 117 100 26,000 24,000 22,000 20,000 18,000 16,000 14,000 12,000 10,000 8,000 6,000 4,000 2,000 0 Partit Nazzjonalista David Casa Adrian Delia Francis Zammit Dimech Roberta Metsola Michael Briguglio David Stellini Roselyn Borg Knight Peter Agius Frank Psaila 6,853 6,348 5,032 1,901 1,678 1,575 1,175 Partit Nazzjonalista Euros Top spenders according to party Winning the social media vote Facebook data for all paying entities and political ads between March and May 2019, in euros