The Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government in Rajasthan has declared that it will be paying social media influencers active on websites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube to promote its many welfare programs. This announcement comes months before the forthcoming state elections.
The state government announced in a notice published on June 26 by the Department of Information and Public Relations (DIPR) that, in addition to the print and electronic media, which the DIPR regularly distributes advertisements to, in the future, these advertisements may also be distributed to social media handles and influencers.
The state government has also established four categories based on which the various rates for issuing advertisements will be fixed: A) minimum 10 lakh subscribers; B) minimum 5 lakh subscribers; C) minimum 1 lakh subscribers; and D) minimum 10,000 followers.
“Advertisements will be approved by the Rajasthan government in case of need and usefulness to social media platforms operated from within the state of Rajasthan/outside the state, such as account holder/operator/social media influencer of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube, etc.,” according to the DIPR notification. “To make the public welfare schemes of the state government reach the common people quickly.”
The notification also states that social media handles, pages, and channels under the A category may receive monthly advertisements worth up to Rs 5 lakh, as opposed to Rs 2 lakh, Rs 50,000, and Rs 10,000 for categories B, C, and D, respectively.
The tariffs for each of these categories have also been specifically determined. For instance, a D-category influencer can make Rs 1,000 for a tweet whereas an A-category influencer can make Rs 10,000 for creating a thumbnail in a film.
According to the notification, the commissioner or director will form a committee at the divisional level, and advertising will be published after obtaining the required government approval based on this committee’s recommendations.
Before the payment is made, the government will confirm that the advertisement received the attention of 5% of all followers or subscribers; those who wish to receive the funds must also submit affidavits and attach reports of social media analytics.
The material of individuals who would be provided advertisements is also prohibited from being “offensive, obscene, and anti-national.”
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