The Party of European Socialists (PES) welcomed Twitter's announcement on Thursday 31 October to ban political advertising worldwide.
"All companies in all sectors - public or private - assume social responsibilities, especially those that are powerful and essential to democracy, such as the press or, increasingly, social media platforms", said President of the European party Sergei Stanishev in a statement. "We congratulate Twitter on its decision - it's good for democracy and we call on other major players to do the same".
The day before, the co-founder of the social network, Jack Dorsey, had announced on his account the group's decision to no longer publish political advertising. This decision contrasts sharply with the position taken by Facebook and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. On 8 October, Facebook refused to ban a political ad funded by Donald Trump's campaign against Joe Biden on the basis of highly controversial information.
On the Commission's side, it is recalled that the Code of Practice on Disinformation recommends transparency with regard to political advertising, but does not impose it. "This is a commercial decision at the discretion of companies", a Commission spokeswoman points out, before recalling that, in their statement accompanying the publication of the self-assessment of the signatories to the code of conduct, the three Commissioners active in the matter had chosen to welcome the platforms' commitment to this issue (see EUROPE 12359/5). (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)