Democrats are spending far more than Republicans on major social media platforms, excluding X (formerly Twitter), to run their campaign ads, according to a report from the Washington Post (WP) on the 7th.

X is owned by Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, who is a known supporter of former Republican President Donald Trump.

WP’s analysis shows that from March 6 to October 1, accounts supporting Republican candidates spent $3 million on political ads on X, triple the amount spent by accounts supporting Democratic candidates, which totaled $1 million.

Trump’s official account was the largest spender on political ads on X.

Trump has formed a political alliance with Musk for the 2024 election, and Musk even appeared at Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on the 5th of this month.

Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign has not run a single ad on X.

However, Democrats have outspent Republicans on larger platforms like Google (which owns YouTube) and Meta (which owns Facebook and Instagram). According to data from the Wesleyan Media Project, which analyzed digital ad spending from both campaigns between September 9 and 22, the Harris campaign spent $22.8 million on Meta and $17.3 million on Google.

In contrast, Trump’s campaign spent only $1.4 million on Meta and $6.5 million on Google.

The WP noted that the reason Republicans are concentrating their ads on X is due to its shift towards the political right since Musk acquired Twitter in 2022. Musk has relaxed content regulations and reinstated accounts that had been suspended for spreading misinformation and conspiracy theories, including Trump’s. He has even posted false claims about immigration, crime, and elections himself.

A Republican digital strategist commented, "Conservatives feel more comfortable on X," adding, "We’ve had great success fundraising on X, probably because the platform is now more partisan in nature."

X, during the 2020 election when it was still Twitter, did not allow political ads. However, data from 2018 and 2019 shows that Democrats dominated political ad spending on the platform during that period.

Musk reinstated political ads in 2022 as part of an effort to recover advertising revenue.

According to a 2023 Pew Research Center survey, only 22% of Americans have used X, compared to 83% for YouTube and 68% for Facebook.

Meanwhile, Harris’s campaign plans to pour $200 million into digital ads alone by Election Day. According to the Financial Times, the Harris campaign announced it would spend a total of $370 million on ads by November 5, with the largest portion, $200 million, allocated for digital ads.

After announcing her presidential run in July, Harris’s campaign reported raising $540 million by August 25.