Maroondah Council plugs Liberal Party MP Michael Sukkar on social media
A Melbourne council has sent out hundreds of paid social media posts since July. And recent sponsored posts have been noticed by a ratepayers group, with some members suspecting political bias.
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Maroondah Council has sent out more than 500 paid social media posts to further promote its activities, news and events since July.
Maroondah Leader can reveal the council has spent nearly $1850 on the posts and has a $2500 annual budget to ‘boost’ its social media content.
Platforms including Facebook and Instagram give page managers the option to pay a small fee for their posts to be ‘sponsored’ and reach a bigger audience.
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The posts are prioritised through algorithms and given a greater chance of appearing in a user’s news feed.
Members of the Maroondah Ratepayers and Local Political News Facebook group recently noticed a spike in sponsored posts by the council.
They accused the council of political bias as the sponsored posts were for funding announcements for Maroondah projects by Deakin federal Liberal MP Michael Sukkar.
Maroondah Mayor Rob Steane responded to the claims through his councillor Facebook account, saying the council was not promoting a candidate and was informing the community about important funding announcements.
Mr Sukkar declined to comment on discussions in the group.
Cr Steane told Maroondah Leader the council spent $3.64 on each boosted post and it was a cost-effective way to reach large audiences.
“To enable the broadest reach to our followers, the council will pay to increase the reach of Maroondah City Council posts to inform and engage with our community on the range of activities, news, and events throughout each year,” he said.
Cr Steane said the council used sponsored posts for large community events including Australia Day, Carols By Candlelight and the Maroondah Festival.
“We also boost an array of information, news and announcements plus the many engagement opportunities to encourage community participation,” he said.
The council has nearly 7900 followers on Facebook and just over 1600 on Instagram.
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