Malta Should Restrict Targeted Political Ads At Next Election, MEP Alex Agius Saliba Urges
Labour MEP Alex Agius Saliba has sent an open letter to five Maltese political parties, urging them to impose restrictions on the use of targeted online ads at the 2024 European Parliament and local council elections.
In his letter to PL, PN, ADPD, Partit Popolari and ABBA, Agius Saliba informed the parties that the European Parliament has recently adopted a position in favour of more transparency in the use of targeted political ads.
If discussions with the European Council succeed, politicians in EU member states could be limited to targeting constituents online based on three pieces of information – their language, whether they’re first-time voters and their general location – within 60 days of an election or referendum.
The use of all data will be allowed outside election periods, except for sensitive personal information such as a voter’s sexual orientation and political affinity.
Agius Saliba urged Malta’s political parties to set an example to other European nations and start preparing for these new regulations from now.
“We know that this collection of personal data has in the past led to huge abuses that didn’t only hinder democracy in lesser developed countries but managed to negatively impact elections and referenda in the US and UK,” Agius Saliba said, ostensibly referring to the Brexit referendum and the 2016 election of Donald Trump as US President.
“Political parties must send a strong message by publicly declaring that we, as well as our candidates, will restrict targeted ads to user location data, language data and age data during the upcoming MEP and local council campaign.”
“If we restrict targeted ads to these basic types of information, we will put our citizens’ minds at ease that their personal data isn’t being abused of.”
“This will also cause fewer risks that, in a world where AI has become more sophisticated, this personal data will feed into algorithms that feed voters with deceptive propaganda.”
“As the smallest member state with an electorate much smaller than other European countries, we can provide a good example by becoming the first country to implement these restrictions that lead to a more transparent and healthy democracy.”
Do you think political parties should voluntarily restrict the use of targeted ads?
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