Transparency in Targeting of Political Advertising: Challenges Remain

Abstract

The EU Regulation 2024/900 on the Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising (TTPA) aims to curb disinformation, limit undue elections interference and ensure accountability in political advertising by enhancing transparency and mitigating risks associated therewith. While the Regulation outlines complementary to the Digital Services Act (DSA) measures, including sponsor declarations, targeting restrictions, and institutional oversight, critical challenges remain, the TTPA's connection to the DSA exposes weaknesses in moderating content effectively, particularly through human and automated methods. This contribution identifies the gaps in sponsor compliance with the requirement to declare political ads, the pitfalls of content moderation human resources and technologies, feeding on previous contributions.

Keywords: Political Advertising Transparency, Targeted Political Ads, Regulation 2024/900, Digital Services Act (DSA), Political Content Moderation, Election Disinformation, Elections, Transparency in Online Advertising, Political Advertising and Accountability, EU Political Advertising Law, Social Media Political Ads, Elections and Digital Regulation, EU Advertising Regulations, Content Moderation Challenges, Digital Democracy Risks, Political Campaigning and Regulation

JEL Classification: D72, K23, L86, M37, H11, O33, K42