More transparency and harmonised rules on political advertising will protect our democratic processes

The Renew Europe Group in the European Parliament welcomes today’s adoption by the plenary of the report on transparency and targeting of political advertising, complementing the Digital Services Act Regulation (DSA) by establishing specific rules for transparency in this area.

With two MEPs leading this legislative file, our political group pushed to make it easier for citizens to recognise a political advertisement, to know why they are seeing it and who paid for it. The report strengthens governance by improving the cooperation between national authorities and asking for more harmonised penalties. The legislation also better defines and regulates the different digital techniques, such as targeting, given the lack of clarity on how an advertisement is directed at a specific person or group of people.

Renew Europe wants to fight more effectively against all forms of disinformation and external interferences in our democratic processes by preserving at the same time the openness of the public debate, which is essential for our society.

Renew Europe MEP, Sandro Gozi (L’Europe Ensemble, France), EP rapporteur for the Regulation on the transparency and targeting of political advertising, said:

“Regulating political advertising is essential to provide our citizens with more transparency and a more open and democratic political debate. This report is essential to complement the actions we are taking to combat all forms of disinformation and foreign interference in our electoral processes. It will also help to remove obstacles to the creation of a true single market in this field and to build a favourable environment for transnational campaigning. The elections are close and we must be ready. The Parliament is ready, we expect the Council to be ready too.”

Renew Europe MEP, Anna Donáth (Momentum, Hungary), rapporteur on the opinion issued by the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, which had exclusive competences on targeting, added:

“Online targeting and ad delivery techniques are used by the big tech industry involving personal data, sometimes even very sensitive ones, not only provided by us, but also observed and inferred from our daily online activities. The use of these data creates specific audiences, fosters polarisation, causes deep divisions in our societies, risking the integrity of public debate, electoral processes, and our democracies. As LIBE Rapporteur, I am proud of the broad agreement and the solid text we found in this house to counter these unhealthy practices and to protect our democracies and fundamental rights by restricting the use of those data. Instead, we propose a system based only on consent, on personal data provided by the users.”