On 25 November 2021, the European Commission has published its comprehensive legislative proposal package to reinforce democracy and protect the integrity of elections. The package comprises a new draft proposal on a new regulation on the transparency and targeting of political advertising and three amendment proposals: one of those on European political parties and two on electoral rights of EU citizens. The package had been prescheduled by the European Democracy Action Plan (2.1. and 2.2.) for year 2021. Continue reading
The International Forum for Responsible Media Blog
Tag: Political Advertising
Online political advertising has seen an unprecedented amount of attention in the run up to recent elections as online campaigning, often via social media, becomes an increasingly significant part of political parties’ strategies. Concerns over how precisely ads are targeted at specific categories of voters are now common around the world, and various governments have been looking at how to bring regulation of online political advertising in line with regulation in the offline world. Here, University of Amsterdam researchers Carolina Menezes-Cwajg, Paddy Leerssen and Jef Ausloos provide insight into the findings of a new report which maps the efforts to improve transparency in targeted political advertising in a range of countries.
Continue reading
Twitter has announced that it is banning paid-for political adverts, just as the UK enters a general election, saying that the reach of political messages “should be earned, not bought”. Continue reading
Over the past five years, Facebook has exploded as a site for political advertising and election campaigning. Donald Trump, Jeremy Corbyn and Angela Merkel have all used it to promote their ideas. Yet despite the increasing prominence of Facebook, we currently know very little about how much political parties actually spend on the platform. Continue reading
On Monday 22 April 2013, the Grand Chamber of the Court of Human Rights held, by nine votes to eight, that the UK’s ban on political advertising on television did not violate Article 10. The majority opinion in Animal Defenders International v. the United Kingdom departed substantially from the Court’s previous case law on political advertising, and introduced a new method for reviewing the proportionality of such blanket-bans. Continue reading
The European Court of Human Rights has given its decision in Animal Defenders International, holding that the ban on political advertising on the broadcast media does not violate Article 10. I had been convinced that the Strasbourg Court, following earlier decisions in cases involveing Switzerland and Norway, would come to the opposite conclusion – but I am relieved that they did not. Continue reading
The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights has dismissed the application in the case of Animal Defenders International v United Kingdom. In a decision made by a majority of 9 votes to 8, the Grand Chamber held that the UK’s ban on political advertising in the broadcast media was not a violation of Article 10 of the Convention. Continue reading
Recent Judgments
© 2026 Inforrm's Blog
Theme by Anders Norén — Up ↑