The European Union’s new rules on political advertising are meant to improve transparency, but they are having an unexpected effect. Online platforms are choosing to ban paid political advertising instead of trying to comply. Political analysts point out that the decisions can affect all parties, whether they are mainstream or fledgling political parties.
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According to the new European Union regulation, political advertising must be clearly marked and show information about who is paying for it and how much, as well as the audience it is intended for. The new regulation covers both online and offline advertising and came into effect on October 10.
AEP emphasizes that “the provisions of Regulation (EU) 2024/900 apply to all political advertising materials, published, distributed or broadcast through any means of communication (both through traditional offline media such as newspapers, television and radio, but also through online platforms, websites, mobile applications, computer games and other digital interfaces), including outside the campaign elections”.
Rather than comply, the companies that own the big online platforms are choosing to opt out of paid political advertising. Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, denounces “the impractical requirements and legal uncertainties introduced by the EU Regulation on Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising (TTPA)”.
“TTPA will restrict how advertisers can reach their audiences and means people will also see less relevant content. Meta remains committed to facilitating fair political discourse and elections. This will not prevent EU individuals or candidates from posting and debating politics on our platforms.”the company explains.
Effect on parties
The ban on advertising on these social networks affects the way in which all parties are promoted, regardless of whether we are talking about mainstream parties or parties at the beginning of the road. However, the online environment is only a small part of a party campaign, analysts explain.
“I don’t think that only new parties would be affected by maintaining the decision, for example in Romania, a new party, AUR, has the largest online infrastructure. Doing online campaigns does not only mean allocating money, it also means having topics relevant to people’s lives and last but not least, having many party people involved in this communication on a daily basis. Money does not solve everything, it never has, proof that many paid and very expensive campaigns have been bankruptcy”former presidential adviser Valeriu Turcan emphasizes for “Adevărul”.
Political scientist George Jiglău draws attention to the fact that online communication is overrated in the context of the last elections strongly influenced by social networks.
“We think we overestimate the importance of online advertising. I don’t know of any party in Romania that has won in Parliament or in public positions only with online advertising, completely neglecting offline advertising. There is still a lot of going out on the streets, going to rural demonstrations during the campaign period, agricultural fairs. There is a lot of grassroots campaigning. You have to go out, let the world see you, be visible, to distribute those leaflets that also need to be marked. (…)
We’re obviously looking at, I don’t know, the Georgescu phenomenon or we’re even looking at Iohannis’ campaign from 2014, when he won for the first time and there was already a lot of talk about the impact of online ads, on social networks. But, those come complementary over a campaign, let’s say in the more classic style. If you don’t have that, it’s very hard to believe that you can completely get by with online advertising alone.” says George Jiglau.
The AUR party, which first managed to enter the Romanian Parliament in 2020, relied exclusively on online promotion at that time. During the more than 4 years spent in the Parliament, the political formation laid the foundations of a party apparatus in the country, managing to open branches outside the borders as well. In addition, the party has carried out a campaign of physical promotion in recent years, with leaders of the formation often present in various cities in the country as well as outside.
Former presidential adviser Valeriu Turcan emphasizes that the new regulation provides an opportunity for a reevaluation that can improve the way parties are promoted, recalling the hijacking of the liberals’ online campaign for the benefit of former presidential candidate Călin Georgescu:
“It is possible that the decision to ban advertisements will be corrected along the way, under the pressure of many political actors who now see their desire to communicate with public opinion being negatively affected. This problem also forces META to make a clearer distinction between legitimate political campaigns and anti-European propaganda, but also for the parties to be a little more creative in the campaigns they run. In the 2024 campaigns, for example, the parties have threw the money out the window and we also had campaigns paid for by a party, such as PNL, but made for Călin Georgescu”.
