On Thursday 2 February, MEPs voted in favour of the report by Sandro Gozi (Renew Europe, Italian) on rules concerning transparency and targeting of political advertising (see EUROPE 13106/5) (433 votes in favour, 61 against, 110 abstentions). The aim now will be to bring the future interinstitutional negotiations to a successful conclusion and to achieve effective legislation before the European elections in 2024.
“The evidence is clear: there is too much manipulation and abuse in our elections and democracies. As political decision-makers, we must take all our responsibilities to provide answers to fight against all forms of interference in our democracies, while preserving the openness that must always characterise our political debates”, said Mr Gozi, on Wednesday 1 February, during a debate in the hemicycle.
The text received almost unanimous support from the S&D, EPP, Renew Europe, Greens/EFA and The Left groups, with the majority of votes against and abstentions coming from the Identity and Democracy and ECR groups.
“The Parliament was able to find a balanced position. There were some good measures in the Commission’s proposal, but we need more rules and provisions, including a distinction between the 'online’ and ‘offline’ world, as well as the protection of press freedom”, said Sabine Verheyen (EPP, German).
The text adopted by the European Parliament states that only personal data “explicitly provided for online political advertising” can be used by ad providers.
This provision implies a de facto ban on micro-targeting, which relies on consumer and demographic data to identify the interests of specific individuals. The data of minors cannot be used either.
At the heart of the issue, MEPs also endorsed their desire to ban non-EU based entities from funding political advertising in the EU. Competent authorities should identify the location of the last content entity to apply this rule.
In addition, changes have also been made regarding access to information on political advertising for citizens, journalists and authorities. The creation of an online directory of all political advertisements is foreseen in the text. There are also provisions to facilitate access to information about how an advertisement was financed, how much it cost and where the money came from.
Information on whether an advertisement has already been suspended, on the groups of people targeted, the personal data used for this purpose and the engagement caused by the advertisement should also be available.
In case of non-compliance, periodic sanctions could be imposed, and even, for the largest advertising service providers, a 15-day suspension of their service to a specific client in case of “serious and systematic infringement”. (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)