Nine people lodged complaints with the ASA accusing National of "showing a bar graph which is not to scale", in a post on Facebook and Twitter about the rising cost of rent. Some of them said the data National used was also cherry-picked to show the Government in the worst light possible.

"This is highly dishonest and is a pattern with National, who are exploiting social media to mislead voters," said one complainant.

Echoing a previous decision about National's social media advertising, the ASA said the advert "was mischievous but did not reach the threshold to mislead within an advocacy environment".

"By displaying the actual data alongside the coloured bars, viewers could easily see the advertiser had employed a level of hyperbole in the infographic."

The complaints were not upheld.

The ASA earlier this year ruled a National graphic about petrol prices was "mischievous" but didn't break any rules.

Two people also complained about a National Party post which claimed Labour "slashed economic growth, piled on debt, dragged NZ into deficit".

"The complainants quote the figures from the Treasury for the period Labour have been in Government which show surpluses each year," the ASA said in its ruling.

But the ASA also said it was fair for National to use Treasury forecasts of an upcoming deficit in its advertising.

"The advertiser had provided sufficient substantiation to support the claim by providing [links and documents showing] a $1.079 billion deficit."