Political forces in Armenia are increasingly using social media for  campaigning as elections drawing near - expert 

ArmInfo. With parliamentary elections in Armenia scheduled for June 7, 2026, approaching, political forces are increasingly using social media for campaigning, writes information security expert Samvel Martirosyan in his analysis of Meta platforms-Facebook and Instagram. He notes that these  platforms remain the most visited and politicized in Armenia.

The expert explained that in recent years, Meta has divided  advertising into two types, separating them into those related to  public issues, politics, and elections. He added that advertisers are  required to provide clear information and public reporting on these  criteria on a separate platform-the Meta Ad Library. "This library  allows for the study of general trends and events in Armenia,  providing data since June 2022. Since then, a total of $262,496 (more  than 99 million drams - ed.) has been spent on advertising targeting  Armenia," Martirosyan noted. He noted that if we analyze expenses  over the past 90 days, we see that they are disproportionately large  compared to total spending after 2022. He explained that the exact  amount of expenses cannot be calculated, as Meta denotes ads costing  less than $100 as "?100." "However, if we consider all types of  advertising from the minimum to the maximum-from $0 to $100-then the  spending on political advertising over the past three months alone  amounts to a minimum of $50,469 and a maximum of $98,269 (more than  37 million drams - ed.)," the expert noted.

Among the active advertisers, according to the expert, are officials  and state institutions such as the Armenian government, the Yerevan  Municipality, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Yerevan Mayor Tigran  Avinyan, and the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff Taron Chakhoyan.

"Over the past 90 days, the ruling Civil Contract party has placed  the most ads, totaling $3,697 (just under 1.5 million drams). The  most prominent among them was Argishti Mekhakyan, head of the  Vagharshapat community in the Armavir region, who placed 75 ads  totaling $11,220 (over 4 million drams - ed.).  However, he has now  stopped placing ads, and his activity has decreased ahead of the  elections," Martirosyan continued.

Presenting the overall data, Martirosyan noted that over the past 90  days, the CIVIC news agency placed 19 ads totaling $2,274 (over  800,000 drams - ed.); the Union of Informed Citizens NGO placed 20  ads totaling $899 (over 300,000 drams - ed.); FIP, which also belongs  to the NGO, placed 60 ads totaling $590 (over 200,000 drams - ed.);  the Public Radio of Armenia placed 26 ads totaling $577 (over 200,000  drams - ed.); and the 7or news agency placed one ad totaling $168  (over 63,000 drams - ed.).

The expert then presented the advertising costs of opposition forces.  Thus, according to an analysis, the "Po-Nashi" movement, led by  Russian businessman of Armenian descent Samvel Karapetyan, spent  $8,392.23 (more than 3 million drams - ed.) on advertising over the  past three months. "Specifically, in just the last seven days, the  movement has invested $3,339 (more than 1 million drams - ed.) in  advertising campaigns. The "Country for Life" party also actively  advertised, spending approximately $6,000 (more than 2 million drams  - ed.) on the pages of various representatives during the same  period. Interestingly, since the beginning of 2022, the party has  invested a total of $10,207 (more than 3 million drams - ed.), and  party leader Mane Tandilyan spent $10,168 on her page," the expert  noted. According to Martirosyan, the "Ayakve" civic initiative stands  out for its significant advertising volume: $3,328 (over 1 million  drams - ed.) for 418 ads over three months. "This represents  approximately 17% of the total number of ads on the platform. Over  500 pages present on the platform during this period posted a total  of 2,373 ads," the expert noted by way of comparison.

He also noted that currently, only "Ayakve" actively uses advertising  targeting, placing different ads for different audiences based on  gender, age, and other factors. "In contrast, other political forces  often employ a universal approach to advertising, targeting a broad  audience," Martirosyan explained.

Speaking about new players in the political arena, he drew attention  to the "Wings of Unity" initiative, headed by former Armenian  Ombudsman Arman Tatoyan. As Martirosyan noted, the initiative posted  five ads, but all were blocked by Meta. Martirosyan suggested that  the initiative's social media specialist was not fully aware of the  rules and restrictions regarding political advertising and predicted  that this situation would soon be rectified.

The expert also noted that the situation has begun to change in the  last 30 days: for example, the ruling Civil Contract party has  reduced its advertising investments, while the "Our Way" movement,  the "Ayakve" civic initiative, and the "Country for Life" party  remain the leaders in advertising. Martirosyan expressed confidence  that significant investments will be made in political advertising in  the coming months. However, he cautioned that most advertising  budgets will remain opaque. He noted that the upcoming elections will  likely be characterized by the active participation of social media  influencers, which will create additional difficulties in tracking  expenses.

The expert explained that many of these expenses will remain in a  "gray area." "This means that financing can be provided in cash or  through transfers from individual entrepreneurs (IE) to other IEs, as  well as from limited liability companies (LLC) to IEs," the expert  concluded.