Political science and lobbying expert George Rennie thinks that the blackout should extend to social media, given political ads are “particularly manipulative” and “don’t really add anything”.

He predicted that the uneven blackout would benefit the Labor Party more than the Coalition.

“Every election is won by swing voters. I know it’s obvious, but it’s worth remembering.” — political science expert George Rennie

“A media blackout is a tremendous advantage to the Labor Party,” Mr Rennie said.

“Over 2.2 million people have voted, which means that there’s an ever shrinking group of people who could determine the outcome of the election.”

Swing voters

The Coalition was more reliant on traditional broadcast media to reach older demographics, whereas younger voters, who are more likely to be left-leaning, were easier to reach on social, he said.


“Every election is won by swing voters. I know it’s obvious, but it’s worth remembering,” Mr Rennie said.

“Yes, most people’s minds get made up early on. But there is this rare group of people who don’t make their mind up until the day ... and if those people see ads on a Thursday or Friday night, it may well be that that’s the ad that makes their mind up.”

Dr Hughes said the blackout could also advantage Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party.

The UAP’s digital spend is getting so big that it’s forcing up the rates to place and boost digital ads, meaning that other smaller parties such as the Greens are not getting as much of a look-in online this election.

The notion of escaping the 24/7 media cycle seems almost quaint in the internet era, but the democratic justification for an election advertising blackout was to give people a chance to pause and reflect on their vote free from an onslaught of ads.

Further, the goal was to minimise the risk of misleading ads flooding screens without adequate time for journalists to scrutinise their veracity.

Cooling-off period

Allens partner Ian McGill noted that a Convergence Review report prepared in 2012 by industry experts addressed the shortcomings of pre-social media broadcasting legislation, but the recommendations were yet to be responded to by the government.


“The reason for the blackout is historical, it was seen from a democratic perspective to give people time to reflect without being deluged with what was then seen as the most powerful form of media that existed, commercial TV and radio,” Mr McGill said.

"But it’s 2019, and let’s just say that the world has moved on. So the social media deluge is unaffected.

“It indicates that if the value judgment is that people need a cooling-off period off before an election, then our laws are sadly and utterly out of date.”

Election ads will also continue to appear on catch-up TV, and the Liberal Party have placed ads at petrol station screens around the country to evade the blackout.