MEPs on the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection voted on Tuesday 24 January in favour of the report by Sandro Gozi (Renew Europe, Italian) on rules on the transparency and targeting of political advertising (see EUROPE 13051/30).
“This report will make abusive online political advertising a thing of the past by making it impossible to prey on people’s specific weaknesses”, commented Mr Gozi.
Several changes have been made to the European Commission’s original proposal. For example, the adopted text prohibits micro-targeting by requiring that only data explicitly provided for online political advertising can be used by ad providers. The use of minors’ data would also be prohibited.
On transparency, MEPs also want to go a step further than the European Commission, making it easier to obtain information on who funded an advert, how much was paid for it and where the money came from.
Other references will indicate whether an advertisement has previously been suspended in the past. The personal data used for this purpose and the engagement resulting from the content will be specified. Journalists, on the other hand, would have easy access to this information.
In addition, the text foresees the creation of an online database of all online political advertisements and related data.
Finally, the text proposes that third-country actors should not be able to pay to place political advertisements in the EU. Penalties are foreseen for breaches of the rules and large advertising service providers would be required to suspend their services for 15 days in the event of serious and systematic infringement. The European Data Protection Board could take responsibility for the investigation of infringements.
The report will be put to the vote in the European Parliament at its next plenary session on 1 and 2 February, with a view to starting interinstitutional negotiations. These, Mr Gozi said, should begin “as soon as possible”, as the Member States adopted their negotiating position last December (see EUROPE 1383/29). “I hope to get a strong mandate from the Parliament in plenary”, he added.
Several points in the dossier are expected to be the subject of lengthy discussions between the European Parliament and the Council of the EU, starting with Article 12, concerning the targeting and amplification of political advertising.
“Some colleagues abstained on certain aspects of the text during the vote in committee, probably because they know that some elements will have to be negotiated with the EU Council, but the whole group should support me on this issue”, said Mr Gozi. (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)