The government deployed four influencer marketing agencies to spread information about its various schemes to the public, said Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur.

Thakur also added that it has been done through the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and that no money was spent so far on the exercise.

The minister was responding to a query by Congress MP Manish Tewari on whether the government has collaborated with social media influencers.

Media reports quoting Thakur said that the four agencies were empanelled using the citizen engagement platform MyGov.

Tewari reportedly sought out the information on the basis of a tender filed in March titled “Request for empanelment with MyGov.” He also wanted to know the cost of the entire exercise.

Thakur informed that the Central Bureau of Communications (CBC) under the I&B Ministry undertakes campaigns related to publicity or awareness generation on government programmes and scheme. “For this purpose, CBC has in place transparent policy guidelines for empanelment of media/agencies and release of advertisements and other promotions on media platforms, including digital media/social media,” he reportedly said.

e4m reported about questions being raised on the government collaborating with influencers late last month.