The Andhra Pradesh government headed by chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu is set to woo social media influencers to spread information about the state’s welfare schemes and initiatives.
The Naidu government decided to bring in the social media influencers policy, which will also be overseen by the APDCL under I&PR Department, given their expanding and effective outreach to the younger generation. Influencers who consistently produce impactful and positive publicity for government schemes and initiatives may be given preference for paid campaigns. “They must disseminate official government information, clarifications and public-awareness material. Opposition YSR Congress party alleged that the Naidu government was indulging in paid social-media promotion to cover up its failures.
A new policy to formally engage social media influencers to disseminate information was issued on September 28, following a formal approval by the state cabinet. For audio-visual content created by the influencer and approved by the government, the remuneration will be ₹ 15,000, ₹ 7,500, ₹ 5,000 and ₹ 2,500 for these four categories. He said even if one influencer with over one lakh followers posted one video a day, the government would incur an expenditure of ₹ 4.5 lakh per month.
The policy’s objective is to strengthen its digital outreach and public communication by using influencers to “amplify” government communications and public-awareness campaigns, including the active promotion of welfare schemes, infrastructure development and other initiatives across the state. “The maximum amount to be paid to each influencer will be ₹ 75,000 per month,” the government order said. They are also required to help counter fake news and do fact-checking of posts against the government,” the order said. Political analyst Ramu Suravajjula said the Naidu government appears to have taken publicity to a new level by announcing a package for social media influencers. “It shows the government has no faith in its own machinery, particularly the I&PR department and digital media corporation,” he said. “The government has come out with the social media influencer policy after realising that people were no longer trusting its supportive media ecosystem,” party spokesperson Vangaveeti Narendra said. “It is not known how many influencers the government is engaging,” he said and demanded immediate withdrawal of the policy, as tax payers’ money should not be diverted to TDP social media activists and self-promotion.
