MEPs on the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO), as well as members of other associated European Parliament committees, debated the draft report by Sandro Gozi (Renew Europe, Italian) on political advertising transparency and targeting (see EUROPE 12979/18) on Monday 11 July following speeches by several experts.
Much of the discussion focused on the issue of defining political advertisements. On this point, acknowledging that it was “difficult” to define what political advertising was, the rapporteur insisted on the importance of taking into consideration the “nature of the actors” and “the nature of their activities”.
“We should improve the definitions”, said Pablo Arias Echeverría (EPP, Spain), adding that he believed they should “provide more transparency”.
The Spanish MEP also raised the issue of user consent regarding the collection of their data, putting forward the idea of renewing these agreements at regular intervals.
In addition, for other MEPs, such as Virginie Joron (Identity and Democracy, France), more work needs to be done on targeting techniques. “Should these methods be banned?”, she asked, recalling the impact of targeting on the voting results for Brexit and the election of the previous US president, Donald Trump.
She added that further discussions would also be needed on the definition of ‘disinformation’. “The second article contains a few words that could give us some clues but it is not enough in my view”, she said.
Some MEPs, such as Maria Manuel Leitão Marques (S&D, Portugal), questioned whether the European Parliament should go further than the European Commission’s proposal on penalties for the misapplication or non-application of future rules. The Portuguese MEP already said that the text lacked ambition on 10 January when the European Commission presented the proposal to the members of the European Parliament’s IMCO committee. “It’s a plaster on a wooden leg”, she said (see EUROPE 12865/14).
For others, attention should also be paid to the role of digital platforms. “National authorities should perhaps be more involved in content screening”, said Eugen Jurzyca (ECR, Slovakia), questioning “the safeguards needed to ensure that platforms are not called upon to become the authorities controlling content”.
MEPs on the IMCO Committee will meet again, on Tuesday 12 July, to discuss Sandro Gozi's report in a second round of discussions. (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)