The UK government has spent almost £100,000 of taxpayers’ money in the last week buying Facebook adverts in a bid to convince the public to support Theresa May’s Brexit deal – only for the key vote to be delayed.

The adverts were promoted with the hashtag #BackTheBrexitDeal and offered short videos promoted using civil service resources and linking to an official government website called The Brexit Deal Explained.

Although Facebook does not give precise data on who was targeted, the publicly-funded adverts in support of the deal cost £96,684 and were shown at least 5m times in the last week.

Different adverts were tailored to different audiences, with men more likely than women to see government adverts stating that the deal would help Britain cut levels of immigration.

There were also ads to sell the deal in the constituent countries of the UK, with short videos specifically made for Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

The data is contained in Facebook’s new political advertising transparency tools, which were finally launched last month in response to criticism about the role of social media advertising and so-called “dark ads” during the EU referendum.

The new rules require political advertisers to verify they are based at a UK postal address and create a public archive of all such content, although they do not give complete clarity over the ultimate financial backer of a political advertising campaign.

The data shows that the Conservatives spent a further £40,000 of their own money in the last week buying Facebook ads to promote Theresa May’s deal, a decision that could anger Tory activists who support a hard Brexit.

The People’s Vote campaign for a second referendum spent £47,000 arguing that the deal satisfies no one and urging people to demand a fresh vote.

The pro-Brexit group Britain’s Future spent more than £21,000 in the last week on Facebook adverts encouraging the public to email their MP and tell them to reject the deal. The campaign group is run by the former Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps scriptwriter Tim Dawson. The Britain’s Future website encourages the public to send in donations to support its pro-Brexit campaigns, although it is unclear if that is enough to pay for the advertising campaign.

Labour did not pay for any adverts promoting the party’s Brexit position and the central party was outspent on all Facebook advertising in the last week by the Liberal Democrats.