The German government spends millions of euros on Google paid entries to promote the work of its ministries, as reported by the Berliner Zeitung.

"During the current legislative period, Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government has paid a seven-figure sum to the American company for advertising," states the German newspaper. "Combining all ministries, the annual expenditures on Google amount to approximately €2,118,500. However, more German state funds are flowing to Google," notes the Berliner Zeitung.

The Ministry of Education reportedly invests the most in Google advertisements (€698,000), followed by the Ministry of Finance (€527,000), the Ministry of Health (€293,000), and the Ministry of Family Affairs (€232,300).

A German MP also inquired whether "the federal government also places paid advertisements on other Google consumer services like YouTube." According to government spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit, this amounts to an additional €4.2 million since October 2021.

Besides the total expenses for "campaigns and advertisements" on digital media platforms, these amounts are relatively small: in 2022 alone, the Scholz government invested approximately €50 million in this communication sector.

The government spokesperson explained that it is a "constitutional mandate" for the government to inform the public. This justifies the expenses on Google advertisements: "The ministries want to position their content as high as possible on the Google search results list." In this way, the ministries also inform about "their activities, plans, and goals."

"The federal government uses various channels to fulfill its constitutional mandate of providing information," adds the German government spokesperson. For example, the Ministry of Finance runs paid ads on topics like securing specialized workers through the "#Skilled Land" campaign and on transitioning energy forms through a campaign with the same name. According to a spokesperson from the Ministry of Transportation, which invested €128,300 in Google ads, these were placed "exclusively for our informational campaigns on road safety ('take your foot off the gas') and mobile communications ('Germany talks about 5G')."