The European Union adopted a Regulation on Targeting and Transparency of Political Advertising and is already enforcing the Digital Services Act. If implemented appropriately, these mechanisms could be an invaluable tool in supporting European democracies. However, some of the risks of microtargeting of online ads are still being overlooked.
Ahead of the EU elections, taking into account the impact of micro-targeting in political ads is crucial, as civil society is concerned about its impact on election integrity. Imagine seeing the online ad of a politician or a party conveying a message in support of concrete actions to support the environment, only to speak to a friend who saw an online ad of the same party or the same politician conveying the opposite message. This is what a micro-targeted ad might look like: its manipulative potential might have huge implications for voter decision-making, with the risk of disseminating conflicting and misleading information to different audience segments.
Clear guidelines and robust enforcement mechanisms are needed to ensure that online platforms comply with regulatory standards effectively. The DSA guidelines on election integrity published by the European Commission overlook important risks, as they do not provide additional mitigation measures for micro-targeting. Micro-targeting allows platforms to target viewers in an extremely detailed way, gathering information from data collected through constant observation of users’ online activities. This might result in the delivery of contradictory messages.
In this op-ed written for EUobserver by our Digital Policy Manager Sofia Calabrese and Civil Liberties Union for Europe’s Senior Advocacy Officer Dr Orsolya Reich, we outline why voters should be aware of micro-targeting and how the DSA guidelines on election integrity can be an occasion to improve mitigations measures for risks posed by micro-targeting of online political ads.
Photo credits: The KonG on Adobe Stock.
