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The European Commission released a new one today Rules On targeted political advertising, while restricting the use of the personal information of Internet users.
Organizations using targeting and amplification techniques will need to explain them clearly and in detail, and will be prohibited from using sensitive personal data without the explicit consent of the individual.
In the meantime, political ads will need to be clearly labeled as such, and include information such as who paid for them and how much.
“Elections must not be a competition of opaque and non-transparent methods. People must know why they are seeing an ad, who paid for it, how much, what micro-targeting criteria they used,” says Vice President of Vura Zorova.
“New technologies should be tools for emancipation, not manipulation. This ambitious proposal will bring an unprecedented level of transparency to a political campaign and limit opaque targeting techniques.”
The rules will apply not only to direct political ads, but also to so-called topic-based ads that may affect election results or referendums, legislative or regulatory processes or voting behavior.
Paid political advertising must be clearly marked and provide the name of the sponsor – prominently displayed – and an easy transparency notice to be found with the amount spent on the ad, the sources of funds used and a link between the advertisement and the relevant advertising. Elections or referendum.
Meanwhile, the use of micro-targeting by using sensitive personal data, such as ethnicity, religious beliefs or sexual orientation, will be prohibited unless the user gives express consent.
And for the first time, it will be mandatory to include in the ads a description of what the person is focused on and what groups of people were targeted, the criteria used and the tools or methods of amplification deployed.
Organizations that carry out political focus and amplification will need to create and publish internal policies regarding the use of such techniques.
The center-right EPP group, the largest and oldest group in the European Parliament, says it welcomes the new rules.
“Russia, China and other authoritarian regimes have spent more than $ 300 million in 33 countries to intervene in democratic processes. This trend is becoming increasingly dangerous. Half of these cases concern Russia’s hostile actions in Europe,” it said.
“These cases include the Brexit referendum in the UK, presidential elections in France and the US, practical support for the far right and other radical players across Europe, including France, Austria, Germany and Italy. Europe cannot and must not allow this any longer. ”
The proposals now need to be passed by the European Parliament and ratified by individual member states, but are expected to take effect before the 2024 EU elections.
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