Program Manager and Fellow Nad’a Kovalčíková joined a virtual panel on the topic of “Future of Digital Platforms: Improving transparency of political advertising,” organized by the GLOBSEC-led Alliance for Healthy Infosphere, to discuss the perspectives of digital political advertising in the EU and ways to ensure its fairness and transparency.
The European Democracy Action Plan sets out a crucial goal—to empower citizens and build more resilient democracies across the EU. One of the tasks along the way is to set clear standards for online political advertising and address concerns and responsibilities of the main stakeholders involved: platforms, advertisers, politicians and regulators.
As political campaigning moves increasingly to the digital arena, new opportunities to engage with audiences also generate vulnerabilities, as digital political advertising can be misused to interfere with electoral processes and voter manipulation.
Panelists discussed the future of digital political advertising in the EU and ways to ensure its fairness and transparency:
- How can transparency of political advertising online be truly implemented?
- What steps should the digital platforms take to guarantee fair political competition and how should their implementation be overseen?
- Is there a need for a common European set of rules on how political adverts should be funded?
