The European Commission presented, on Thursday 25 November, a proposal regarding the transparency of online political advertising. This proposal is part of a package of measures, including updates on electoral rights and financing of European political parties, aimed at strengthening democracy and the integrity of elections (see other news).
“Elections must not be a competition of opaque and non-transparent methods. People must know why they are seeing an ad, who paid for it, how much, what micro-targeting criteria were used. New technologies should be tools for emancipation, not for manipulation”, said the Vice-President for Values and Transparency, Věra Jourová.
In concrete terms, the proposal provides for political advertisements to be easily identifiable. Information about the amounts - and the entities that paid for their dissemination - should also be specified.
The source of the funds used for the dissemination of an advertisement and the link between the content and the election concerned should also be mentioned.
The Commission intends, through this future text, to cover advertising by or on behalf of a political actor. Advertising that could “influence the outcome of an election or referendum, or a legislative or regulatory process” would also be affected.
While targeted advertising is at the heart of the debate on the Digital Markets Act (DMA) (see EUROPE 12838/6) and Digital Services Act (DSA) (see EUROPE 12836/2), the Commission also wants to bring this issue into the field of political advertising.
Thus, the Commission specifies, targeting techniques based on sensitive personal data, such as ethnic origin, religious beliefs or sexual orientation, will be prohibited. Nevertheless, an exemption will be possible in the event that a user gives explicit consent.
In addition, companies that use this type of advertising will have to show their credentials and provide precise information on the techniques used, failing which fines may be imposed.
In this regard, the Commission wants EU Member States to be required to introduce “proportionate and dissuasive” financial penalties. This task could be left to national authorities.
“This ambitious proposal will bring an unprecedented level of transparency to political campaigning and limit the opaque targeting techniques”, concluded Věra Jourová.
See the proposal: https://bit.ly/30YzBw5 (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)