Hold the front page! Advertising in the political hot seat

The Commission is concerned that the speed and efficiency of political ads, especially online, mean that any manipulative or untruthful ads can have a very large scope and reach. Technological advances that enable micro-targeting and amplification of political advertising can also strengthen this potential impact. Furthermore, there are fears that in the online environment, citizens will find it difficult to distinguish between paid-for political material and "organic" content shared and created among users.

According to the Commission's roadmap on the issue, recent elections, including the 2019 European parliamentary elections, have indicated that some aspects of online advertising and the overall digitisation of political campaigning can have negative impacts on electoral processes and democratic debates. It states: "Political advertising is one way that disinformation and other manipulated information, and divisive and polarising narratives can be disseminated, directed and amplified, and through which interference can be achieved."

Such issues of course strike close to home for Members of the European Parliament who have pressed for legislative action to be taken. The Parliament has already set out a highly critical position on online advertising and personalisation in a number of reports adopted last year in the context of discussions on the Digital Services Act.   

The scope of the current consultation, which is open for responses until 2 April 2021, includes both online and offline activities and encompasses the European parliamentary election and national polls. Responses to this consultation will feed into the Commission's plans to come forward with a legislative proposal on the transparency of sponsored political content, as announced in the European Democracy Action Plan published in December 2020. In addition, the Commission envisages support measures and guidance for Member States, national political parties and competent authorities on issues arising from political advertising. 

At present, political advertising is defined in different ways in the various Member States. In some Member States, political advertising can only be placed by political parties and candidates during a limited period of time and is strictly regulated. Meanwhile, advertising with more general political messages or goals, such as "issues ads" about environment or emigration, can be placed by political party foundations, interest groups or non-governmental organisations outside election periods.

This fragmented approach across Member States has fueled concerns about legal uncertainty regarding cross-border political advertising, in particular online and in the run-up to a European election. According to the Commission, divergences have created an uneven playing field for service providers established in the EU. The diverse existing national regulatory environment is also deemed to present administrative and compliance obstacles for the freedom to provide services within the internal market.

Across the EU, actors in the advertising value chain are currently subject to oversight by a range of bodies, including data protection authorities, media regulators, electoral authorities, financial regulators and professional associations.

The current consultation will explore the possibility of introducing harmonised definitions for political advertising across the Member States and assess the scope of potential measures. In particular, it seeks input on the following topics:

• Political advertising and related services
• Relevant rules for political advertising
• European Parliamentary elections
• Transparency requirements
• Targeting and amplification

This latest initiative on political advertising is meant to complement the recent proposal for the Digital Services Act, which includes certain general transparency obligations for online intermediaries as regards online advertising. These proposals have included due diligence obligations for online platforms that display advertising on their interfaces, to ensure that recipients of the service can identify the entity on whose behalf the advertisement is displayed. In addition, online platforms would be obliged to provide meaningful information to users about the main parameters used to determine the recipient to whom the advertisement is displayed.

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