On the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the transparency and targeting of political advertising
LIBE-AD-734324
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs · Rapporteur: Anna Júlia Donáth
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The Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs proposes amendments to the proposed regulation on the transparency and targeting of political advertising.¶¶ It widens the definitions of political advertising, political actors and sponsors, and requires labels stating whether an advertisement is a political advertisement or a public issue advertisement.¶¶¶ It bans targeting and ad delivery using special categories of personal data, restricts other targeting to personal data explicitly provided by the data subject, and bans targeting of persons at least one year under the voting age.¶¶¶ In the 60 days before an election or referendum, targeting is limited to the languages spoken, the location at constituency level and first-voter status.¶¶ It requires a European library for political advertisements, transparency notices, complaint and trusted flagger mechanisms, and gives supervisory authorities investigative and fining powers.¶¶¶
Committee position. The committee calls on the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection to take into account its amendments, which widen definitions, ban targeting based on special categories of personal data, restrict other targeting, and strengthen transparency, oversight and enforcement.¶¶¶
Key points
- Member States may keep or introduce silence periods on political advertising before elections or referendums, during which new political advertisements may be restricted.¶¶
- Political advertising covers messages sponsored, promoted, published or disseminated by or for a political actor, and messages liable to influence an election, referendum, legislative or regulatory process or voting behaviour.¶¶¶
- Political actors include Union institutions, governments at national, regional and local level and their bodies, and persons in a relationship of control with a political actor.¶¶¶
- Editorial content of audiovisual media, print and online publishers is excluded unless the service provider is remunerated by a third party; re-published campaign content without editorial context is treated as political advertising.¶¶
- Political advertising publishers must label each advertisement as a political advertisement or a public issue advertisement, using at least 15 percent of the displayed advertisement for the marking.¶¶¶
- Transparency notices must state the sponsor's identity and place of establishment, the amounts and sources of funds, the campaign period, the targeted nature and data used, and links to the European library.¶¶¶
- The Commission must establish and manage a European library for political advertisements, retaining information for 11 years and personal data for five years.¶¶¶
- Targeting and ad delivery using special categories of personal data are prohibited; other targeting is limited to personal data explicitly provided by the data subject with consent for political advertising.¶¶¶
- Targeting and ad delivery using personal data of persons at least one year under the voting age are prohibited, and ad delivery must select recipients randomly without further processing.¶¶
- In the 60 days before an election or referendum, targeting is restricted to the languages spoken, the location at constituency level and first-voter status.¶¶
- Publishers must provide free notification mechanisms, address notifications within five days, or 36 hours before an election or referendum taking place in less than 30 days, and allow complaints.¶¶¶
- National authorities may award trusted flagger status to independent entities, and the European Data Protection Board may investigate very large online platforms and impose fines or suspend targeting services for up to 15 days.¶¶¶
Who is affected
- Political advertising publishers, sponsors and service providers, who must label advertisements, provide transparency notices and comply with targeting limits.¶¶¶
- Online platforms and very large online platforms, which must share transparency data with the European library and face investigation and fines.¶¶¶
- Civil society actors, journalists and vetted researchers, who may request information and act as trusted flaggers.¶¶¶
- Member States, which must designate independent competent authorities, keep registers of legal representatives and report on sanctions.¶¶¶
- Data subjects, who gain rights to withdraw consent, lodge complaints and access information about targeting.¶¶¶
Figures and deadlines
- At least 15% of the displayed advertisement, space or timing, must be used so the political advertisement is identifiable.¶¶
- Information in the transparency notice must be shared with the European library no later than 24 hours from first publication.¶
- In the 60 days preceding an election or referendum, targeting is limited to location, languages spoken and first-voter status.¶¶
- Targeting must not combine more than four categories of personal data.¶
- Information must be retained for 10 years from the last preparation, placement, promotion, publication or dissemination.¶
- Transparency notices must be retained for one year after the last publication.¶
- The European library must retain information for 11 years and personal data for five years.¶
- Notifications must be addressed within five days, or 36 hours if the election or referendum is in less than 30 days.¶