The images of riots that took place in the city center of Brussels after Belgium-Morocco last November were widely seen on social networks, such as Facebook. The great virality of these videos is obviously due to the events themselves. However, we also discover that the Vlaams Belang has invested in the social network so that these videos are seen as much as possible.
On November 27, violence broke out in downtown Brussels after the Belgium-Morocco World Cup match, resulting in burnt cars, damaged metro stops and ransacked street furniture. This violence was widely covered in the various media, such as ici, to be, to be or to be and even abroad ici or to be. For these various facts, a dozen people were arrested administratively and one person was arrested judicially.
Analysis of the amounts spent by political parties on Facebook reveals that among the million euros spent by Vlaams Belang on sponsored posts on Facebook in 2022the party has spent around €20,000 so that the videos of this violence are seen more.
For example, cThis first video published on November 27whose comment is “Mind-blowing images of the riots currently in Brussels. Unacceptable. This scum of immigrants must be hunted down, arrested and severely punished.“, reached more than one million people, thanks to an amount paid to Facebook of between €10,000 and €15,000. This is one of the largest amounts paid by Vlaams Belang to the platform. Among the 290 sponsored posts, only a video to celebrate the feast of the Flemish community was entitled to more budget Three other videos published in the days that followed, each sponsored to the tune of 1500/2000€ were published, each time the audience for these videos beyond one million views.