Online political advertising soon to be regulated in Europe
The European Commission wishes to regulate the use of political advertisements on the internet (illustrative image).
DENIS CHARLET AFP / Archives
Text by: Dominique Desaunay Follow
3 min
Online advertising of a political nature is taking an increasingly important place in election campaigns in European Union (EU) countries.
This is why the European Commission plans to regulate their dissemination by delimiting the use of techniques for targeting Internet users.
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In recent years in the countries of the European Union, political advertising targeting has only been possible with the explicit consent of individuals. But this prior authorization, which is based on the general data protection regulation, the GDPR, is largely bypassed by the use of recommendation algorithms put in place by the giants of social networks. These terribly efficient automated computer systems orchestrate the way posts appear on users' newsfeeds,
de facto
amplifying
political advertising messages.
The manipulative effects of these targeting techniques to influence the vote of voters in Europe and around the world, worry the European Commission. “
Ad targeting algorithms have become extremely sophisticated and the people who use them for electoral influence are very knowledgeable about how to use them. But
the European Commission
, in my opinion, does not yet have a complete understanding of these digital tools to consider regulating political advertising on the networks.
, believes Philippe Moreau-Chevrolet, president of the MCBG Conseil agency, specializing in influencing strategy for business leaders and political figures.
In addition, nothing will be possible without ensuring the cooperation of the platforms of the social Web.
The cost in France of online political advertising is roughly one euro per voter, which is ultimately little compared to other countries ”.
The threat of foreign states
“
On the other hand what seems really problematic to me
, adds the expert,
is the use of this money when it is used to alter the sincerity of a ballot, in particular by foreign States which are specialized in this field and even political parties in France which use and monetize their advertising targeting technique to influence the voters' vote. But I don't think, however, that we should restrict, at least quantitatively, the use of online political advertising. Rather, I believe that we must try to understand why we are witnessing these abuses on the social networks of certain electoral campaigns in order to better prevent them in the future
”
The European Commission will ask the authors of these advertisements to enter the “
name of the sponsor or the advertiser displayed in a clearly visible manner
”, to affix an “
easily accessible transparency notice
” in which we find the amount spent for this advertisement, the origin of the funds used and an indication that this publication has a link with a particular ballot. Ads containing sensitive information, such as ethnicity, religious beliefs or sexual orientation, will be prohibited. The European Commission is asking Member States to provide sufficiently dissuasive fines against platforms and advertisers who do not respect these new rules.
On the other hand, a passage in the European Parliament and before the Council of the Member States will be necessary before the implementation of the texts of laws envisaged for the next European elections, which will be held in 2024. Well after the French presidential election for which the supreme battle political ads and the war of electoral influence on social media has largely begun.
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