23/02/2021

The European Publishers Council views on the European Commission’s

Inception Impact Assessment on Political Advertising
Submitted 23 February 2021
Transparency register number: 4456380381-30

Why Political Advertising should be regulated: transparency rules are needed

to ensure free and fair elections and
allow news media to fulfil its role in holding power to account and supporting democracy

The European Publishers Council (EPC) is a high-level group of Chairmen and CEO’s of
Europe’s leading media and publishing groups representing companies with newspapers,
magazines, online publishing, journals, databases, books, eLearning, online marketplaces and
radio and TV broadcasting.

News media has a fundamental role in supporting democratic societies, as an independent

voice that holds power to account and provides unbiased and fact-based information to
citizens – a role which is especially important ahead of elections. As such the EPC welcomes
the opportunity to comment on the European Commission’s inception impact assessment
into Political advertising.

The inception impact assessment outlines tools which we consider timely and necessary to
ensure democratic, transparent, informed and widely participative elections. European
citizens have the right to base their decisions on accurate information and detail from sources
they can judge to be credible. We see and acknowledge the need for a European Regulation
on political advertising to guarantee transparency to citizens from across all media, including
through search and on social networks, which will contribute to ensuring viable democratic
debate across Europe.
Justification for Harmonising Rules for Political Advertising
The European internal market is operated by 27 Member States, which have their own array
of different legislations including bans and restrictions that determine the ways of how and
when to disseminate political advertising. European citizens have the right to participate in
both national and European elections which shape the democracies we live in and would
benefit from a degree of harmonisation of the rules.

At least 50% of money spent on political advertising and campaigning now goes to global
platforms where online political advertising is largely unregulated and campaign material is
not required by law to be truthful or factually accurate, or to state who is paying for it.
Unregulated political advertising, and state-sponsored propaganda undermine the right of
citizens to be informed and participate in democratic elections.

EU voters should be granted the same transparency in online election and referendum
campaigns as they get in leaflets, on posters and in the media. Social media ads and videos
should carry a standard set of information showing who has created them, whether paid-for,
or organic content, so voters can judge their credibility.

Implementing a set of clear and consistent rules for the European internal market brings the
opportunity to guarantee a level playing field for both European and third-country service
providers and more clarity for citizens. Moreover, by harmonising the inconsistent and
outdated regulatory frameworks lays the ground for measures and procedures to deal with
violations and consumer redress.

Member States should combine efforts to crack down on foreign interference in elections
and referendums. Rules and limitations of liability under the eCommerce Directive and the
future DSA should apply to political advertising including a 'notice and take down' rule, where
the platform must remove unregulated, anonymous political advertising or risk incurring
liability.

Transparency standards to be adhered to in Political advertising

Political advertising is one of the ways of informing citizens ahead of any elections or
referendums. To present their views politicians, political parties and campaigning
organisations as well as other relevant actors involved in election campaigning, directly or
through third parties, buy advertising space in various offline and online advertising media.
However, in many Member States, political advertising is either banned or highly restricted
on TV and radio, and where in addition strict rules also apply throughout election periods for
the press and outdoor media.

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The past few years have shown us how fast a global social network can gain a powerful
position determining what citizens see online, which also applies to political advertising.
Although social networks and search engines have fast become leading hosts and
disseminators of political advertising, often online advertising intermediary services play a
key role in distributing and placing advertising in the online ecosystem and thus also have a
role in how and what is shown to online audiences.

The lack of information and transparency on how and where advertisements are placed
contributes to the ambiguity of who is paying for the advertisements and whether they are
from legitimate sources, or from malign forces wishing to interfere with and disrupt the
democratic process. Not only do the largest online platforms and intermediaries have a
significant role in controlling what consumers see in their online environments, but by giving
undue prominence to false or malign political messaging whose financing is either unknown
to opaque to the citizens, the platforms detract attention away from authoritative and
credible sources of information in the news media which is under the editorial control of
publishers and broadcasters. When the political advertising algorithms which determine
prominence are hidden, neither consumers, the authorities nor independent organisations
have the means to scrutinise or review relevant information about how political candidates
are promoted and who is funding the advertising.

Therefore, we support a minimum set of standards to be put in place regarding sources of

funding, and what information should be made available on the content of political
advertisements and campaign materials, which all relevant parties must adhere to and which
should be available for scrutiny. Such measures should determine requirements for truthful
and factually accurate information and mechanisms for citizens to flag suspect
advertisements. Transparency standards could be used to show consumers how the targeting
criteria are determined for the personalisation of political advertisements. Citizens should
also be offered the possibility to manage and control how political ads are targeted to them
(e.g., switching off the possibility of being targeted by a specific political advertiser, or based
on a specific targeting criterion).

Once clear regulatory rules on transparency of political advertising are in place, the citizens
can make more informed decisions and authorities can scrutinize campaigns and their
funding and take action when needed.

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In Conclusion
Overall, the European Publishers Council supports the legislative initiative on political
advertising. In addition, the EPC would like to remind the European Commission that it is
crucial to define political advertising precisely in order to differentiate this from issue-based
advertising. The EPC also welcomes the Commission’s efforts to pool their resources with the
Member States for cross-border cooperation to crack down on foreign interference in
elections and referendums.

Other relevant resources:

Democracy disrupted, Information Commissioner’s Office (UK), published in 2018.