#InLokSabha on 25.7.2023
Manish Tewari asked Ministry of Information and Broadcasting whether the government has any plan to ensure fair ad revenue distribution and to prevent social media space monopolisation with the increasing reliance on influencers for government advertising.
The MP further asked if the government has empaneled social media influencer marketing agencies & their details, if the govt. has collaborated or intends to collaborate with empaneled social media influencers, & the revenue spent on empanelment of marketing agencies.
The MP sought clarity on whether the government has collaborated or plans to collaborate with these influences under a March 2023 tender “Request for Empanelment (RFE) for selection of Influencer Marketing Agencies for Empanelment with MyGov”.
Anurag Thakur replied that Central Bureau of Communication (under MIB) undertakes campaigns related to publicity/awareness & has in place a transparent policy for empanelment & ads. As per MeitY , the process for empanelment of influencer marketing agencies started in March, 2023.
He further said that so far 4 agencies have been empaneled and no revenue has been spent. However, the Minister has not shared the details of the empaneled agencies or any plan to prevent social media monetisation.
Previously, IFF has filed RTI requests on each of these tenders & accompanying documents, seeking information on the status of tenders, application of entities applied, budget & resources allocated, nature of agreements, etc.