European Parliament Committee considers regulation on targeted political ads

The European Parliament Committee is considering a regulation on transparency and targeting of political ads to safeguard elections from undisclosed ads and misuse of social media. Proposed in November 2021, the regulation may restrict social media giants like Google and Facebook from tailored political ads for the 2024 European Parliament election. Parties would only target users with disclosed information like age, gender, location, and language. This regulation supplements existing legislation like the Digital Services Act package.

The regulation on the transparency and targeting of political advertising is now awaiting a decision from the European Parliament’s Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO). Proposed by the European Commission back in November 2021, the regulation prevents aims to protect elections and referendums alike from undisclosed political ads or misuse of social media by ill-intentioned actors. Google, Facebook and other social media giants might be restricted severely from targeted political ads ahead of the 2024 European Parliament election. Political parties would only be able to target users based on the information the latter choose to reveal, such as age, gender, location and language. This regulation would be complementary to existing EU legislation, including the Digital Services Act package.

Sources: European Parliament, POLITICO