Sunday 20 November 2022 06:14 AM Dan Andrews' Labor spends big on Matthew Guy Facebook Page to attack Victorian ... trends now
Victorian Labor spent more than $115,000 creating a 'Matthew Guy' Facebook page to launch non-stop personal attack ads on his election rival.
The Facebook Page, which was set up under the title 'Matthew Guy – The Liberal Cuts Guy' was mysteriously deleted just six days before election day.
It's the latest questionable tactic in a campaign that has turned decidedly nasty, with an independent candidate being investigated for making a 'threatening' statement about Daniel Andrews and the premier accusing the Liberals of preferencing 'Nazis'.
Victorian Labor is spending hundreds of thousands on Facebook ads attacking Liberal leader Matthew Guy and even set up a page under his name to push them
'The Liberals Cuts Guy' page was set up on October 31 and by last Wednesday had spent $115,893 to boost 1,146 posts, which were repeats of the same 19 ads, all targeting Mr Guy and accused him of planning to cut government spending.
The page and the ads all carried small Labor electoral authorisation messages.
A website was also created to expand on the negative ad messages under the address thecutsguy.com.
The Guardian reported that neither Victorian Labor nor Facebook explained the Facebook page's sudden disappearance.
Labor's election campaign has become very personal with relentless attacks on Mr Guy
Only Victorian Labor's main page spent more on Facebook than the 'Cuts Guy' attack page in the past 30 days, splashing out $237,055.
On just those two Facebook pages Victorian Labor spent $393,849 in a month, compared to about $118,000 by the Liberals on the social media site.
Mr Andrews turned social media into one of his primary communication tools and the million followers his Facebook page boasts easily dwarfs Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's following of 324,000.
However, there have been questions over how much public money is used to promote Mr
