With just a month and a week left for the House of Representatives elections, the internet and social media platforms are not only filled with political speeches or ‘updates’, but also with advertisements for unique services purporting to be ‘election-winning packages’ and new concepts such as ‘AI messaging’ and ‘voter funnels’. Websites have been built to provide ‘digital war room’-style services that manage the entire digital campaign of candidates, monitor the activities of competitors, and manage voter feedback in ‘real-time’.

Some ad agencies and IT companies that used to do digital marketing for various businesses, individuals and brands are now taking the lead in providing election campaign services with slogans like 'Your candidacy, our strategy', 'You are in the field, we are on mobile', 'Every thing you need to win', 'Are the people not listening or have you not been able to reach them? We give you the right digital strategy', 'Convert citizens to voters'. 

Some have said they will provide 'AI tools' to create effective speeches and messages, while others have guaranteed to make candidates 'leaders with an influential image'. Some agencies seem to claim that they will not only campaign, but also turn neutral voters into 'supporters' of the candidates. Such agencies are ready to provide services by taking the contract for election campaigning through digital means. 

Saying that the election campaign will be transformed digitally, Popplex Media has written in a Facebook ad graphic, ‘Bihar has shown – public opinion will be formed digitally, now it’s Nepal’s turn.’ The advertisement mentions that the election campaign will be conducted with digital medium at the center. The advertisement claims that the message can be conveyed to voters through smartphones, social media, and podcasts, going beyond traditional rallies and crowds.

It is mentioned that they will use platforms like Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube to widely spread the message of the candidate or party. The advertisement claims that one viral video is equivalent to one million rallies and one popular podcast is as effective as one lakh dialogues.

Several pages have been opened on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok with claims such as running campaigns targeting specific constituencies on social media, increasing followers, buying likes, doing SMS marketing, and designing speeches and messages. He has been found to be charging an exchange fee of $170 to $200 and a service fee of up to 20 percent for advertising ‘boosting’.

Election observers say that some candidates are hiring digital campaigners to forget past controversies, trolling or weaknesses or to cover up or ‘whitewash’ errors in their speeches. There is also a trend of hiring cameramen and social media pages to post ‘reels’. Campaigners say that reels are the most powerful medium now.

Dozens of digital marketing companies like Sakha Digital Solutions, Brand Ad Inc, Exten, Beyond Pixel, Rainex Tech, Natraj Technologies have posted on Facebook that they will provide election campaign services as ‘digital partners’. Journalist Taranath Dahal says that the Election Commission should regulate such digital consultancies and services. According to him, although it is natural to use digital media and new technology to reach voters, it should be clearly disclosed which engagement is artificial and which is real, which content is ‘sponsored’ and which is not. When political advertising, boosting, etc. are being done without a disclaimer ‘here’, there is a risk of confusion and giving the wrong impression to the general voters,’ he said.

Up to 20 thousand per post

An IT company working based in Pokhara has told Kantipur that it has been entrusted with the task of spreading the agenda of candidates from Gulmi, Butwal and Biratnagar through Facebook, TikTok and Instagram. The company has said that it is working to make field (on-site) videos attractive by asking the client (candidate) and delivering them to the mobile phones of people with a certain geography, age and interest.

According to Rururara (name changed), a content designer at the company, since candidates do not have time to keep updating social media while walking in the field, they take care of all the digital management. ‘Candidates who spend between Rs 1,200 and Rs 20,000 per post per day on boosting are our clients,’ he said. ‘After it came out that a leader’s Facebook post had paid likes and paid reactions, the demand from clients has increased, saying they want Nepali likes.’ 

In the digital market, Berry Technology Pvt. Ltd. has launched an election campaign management system called ‘My Campaign.com’. According to the company’s director, Subin Hachethu, through this platform, candidates can do all the work like voter management, team management, social media campaigning and SMS campaigning in one place. ‘Our portal now converts election work that was previously done on paper or Excel into a digital medium,’ he said. ‘The AI ​​system in it helps candidates write social media posts or prepare an election agenda from their manifesto.’ He said that this platform was launched after informing the Election Commission. 

My Campaign has mentioned on its website that it provides facilities like ‘Smart Constituency Data’ to analyze the demographic details of voters in each ward, and ‘Voter Funnel’ to measure voter inclination. When asked by Kantipur where it takes data to provide ‘Voter Insight’ and ‘Smart Constituency Data’ facilities, Hachethu said, ‘We do not collect data, the Election Commission has made a legal provision allowing parties to buy electoral rolls at the constituency, state or national level by paying a fixed fee.’

My Campaign has launched a package called ‘Representative Plan’ for Rs 40,000 including VAT. Under this, the election campaign of up to three competing candidates can be tracked. 50 SMS and 10 voice messages can be sent. 10 national and 5 local news monitoring and features like AI assistant are available. After taking this package, a 'group' package can be purchased for an additional Rs 1,000, and various 'add-on' services can be purchased under the 'additional' package if more facilities are needed, said Hachethu. An Election Commission official who is monitoring this platform says that selling elections as a package like a product or 'brand' raises questions about the fairness of democracy. 

Journalist Dahal also expresses concern that services like ward-targeted data analysis and bulk SMS may not only affect citizens' right to privacy but also affect free choice and freedom of expression. "In the absence of a Data Protection Act in Nepal, it is heard that data collected by various companies like ride sharing, food delivery, telecom, and banks is being sold illegally on the black market," he said. "To bring digital packages of up to 3-4 lakh rupees and payments in dollars openly through social media on track, we can regulate them in accordance with the Electronic Commerce (E-Commerce) Act, 2081, but the Department of Commerce has not paid attention to it."

Although the E-Commerce Act prohibits artificially increasing popularity on social media, the Department of Commerce has responded that this act does not apply to electoral activities and its regulation. "This act only covers the purchase or sale of goods or services for money, election campaigning cannot be included in the definition of commercial goods or services," says Taranath Lui'tel, director of the department. "Actions like buying fake likes or followers, showing artificial popularity fall under the Electronic Transactions Act." He says that such issues should be looked into technically and legally by the Cyber ​​Cell of the Nepal Police.

The candidate himself is unaware of the agenda

Man Gurung of MPG Solutions in Pokhara, who is working on election posters, graphics and video editing required for the candidates, says that digital media should be used for healthy competition. He said that candidates' agendas, interview bits (bytes) and video appeals are recorded and prepared for election campaigning. Gurung said that MPG Solutions has been providing online advertising services within the scope of the code of conduct in the elections since 2017.

Beyond Pexel, a Kathmandu-based company involved in physical and social media marketing, has also stated that it is currently prioritizing election campaigns. “We do not run campaigns for competing candidates,” says an official of the agency. “As the election approaches, there is an increase in people who are interested in social media marketing and want to understand it.”

Ranjit Tamang, a candidate for Jhapa-5 on behalf of the Nepal Communist Party, says that he is being contacted by many digital campaigners as the election approaches. Since his competitors are conducting a large-scale digital campaign, he was forced to become active on social media and formed a ‘volunteer team’ of 10 youth for this, he said. “Nowadays, the use of digital media in elections has become inevitable, and with the development of the digital world, if political parties and leaders can pay a fee, professional teams are also available to prepare issues, agendas and content for them,” he said. 

A leader of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has said that the excessive use of technology and the increasing dependence on ‘campaigners’ are obscuring the real capabilities, qualifications and perspectives of candidates. According to her, the tendency for AI and agencies to prepare the agenda and content themselves may lead to a situation in the future where candidates themselves may become ignorant about their own issues. 

Some marketing agencies charge Rs 5,000 per reel including voice and music, Rs 1,200 for a graphic design, and Rs 3,600 per day for digital ad fees. To show artificial popularity on social media, some candidates are paying up to Rs 15,000 per day to hire a cameraman and social media pages for additional fees, and are also investing in posting reels, increasing followers, buying likes and reactions. 

The campaigner said that some candidates’ pages are getting emojis and likes from citizens of countries like Indonesia and the Philippines. Such fake engagements risk confusing voters and creating an artificial atmosphere. The Election Commission has set a limit of Rs 2.5 to 3.3 million for candidates to spend for the House of Representatives elections, depending on their geography. However, the question has also been raised about how the commission tracks invisible spending and dollar payments made on digital media. Experts have suggested that the commission pay attention to this as small investments on social media can have a big impact.

According to Meta's Ad Library, new parties like the Rastriya Parivartan Party and the Dynamic Party have already spent thousands of dollars on digital advertising in a few months. The Rastriya Parivartan Party, formed last November, has spent the most, $1,199, on its main page alone in the last three months to promote its activities.

Like Rastriya Parivartan, Ujjaya Nepal Official has also shown a strong presence in digital advertising by spending $464 in the last 90 days. Since these two parties are united, it can be assumed that spending on social media will increase. Nowadays, candidates have started asking for donations through QR codes to raise election expenses. Not only that, there have been activities such as buying 'verified tick marks' on the Facebook and X (Twitter) accounts of leaders by investing money and promoting them from there.

Fake 'Like' Violation of the Code of Conduct

The Election Commission has stated that it is monitoring all these activities and has increased its surveillance using monitoring tools. According to the Commission's Assistant Spokesperson Kul Bahadur GC, the Commission is regularly monitoring advertisements and election activities on social media through software including 'E-Monitor Plus'.

He said that 'boosting' done by spending dollars on social media will also be included within the expenditure limit set by the Commission. 'Although it is a bit complicated to calculate such technical expenses, the Commission's IT experts are studying it,' he said. 'Once the data is ready, such expenses will be analyzed and if they are found to be contrary to the limits set by the Commission and the election code of conduct, they will be brought under the scope of action.'