As I report in the piece, TikTok also claimed to ban political ads. And not only were there still political ads on it - the ban actually reinforced obscure advertising practices. Imposing a ban is just a way to push political ads under the carpet, while appearing to be in compliance with EU law.

Also, there is realistically no way for platforms and search engines to know an ad is political unless they are notified by the ad sponsor or users (once the regulation comes into effect fully), which may just drive manipulative actors into non-disclosure.

a reel sensitizing viewers to a particular social issue, if paid for, can count as such).So banning political ads does nothing but push political ads into different terrains and or forms which users may not be as capable of recognizing.

Quite the opposite, starting from the obvious question of "what is an ad": to say you won't allow users to pay for insertions with political content is not the same as not allowing political ads. The notion of political adv under the Reg is purposefully broad, they can take different forms, such as

My take: Election integrity remains a concern. Yet, by banning political ads altogether, very large platforms and search engines are likely to make things worse, driving political ads into less transparent and malicious channels.

Has the EU actually filled the gaps exposed last November in Romania? Or have these tech giants voiced fair concerns?

In this piece (eulawlive.com/weekend-edit...), I review some of these claims, looking at how the EU Political Advertising Regulation holds up in light of Romania’s 2024–25 presidential election crisis and the manipulative advertising practices relied therein.

In this [piece] (eulawlive.com/weekend-edit...), I review some of these claims, looking at how the EU Political Advertising Regulation holds up in light of Romania’s 2024–25 presidential election crisis, and the manipulative advertising practices used therein.

Funding was made through the firm Kensington Communication, which received a whopping 1.017 million lei (205k euros) from the PNL - as Gandul had already reported in early November

www.gandul.ro/exclusiv/fil...

Not everyone has! I am organising a webinar with other Romanian experts about the election crisis, annulment and related legal issues (in English) tomorrow. You’re welcome to join! vu-live.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Finally, I will discuss how the EU legal framework addresses the fight against disinformation and propaganda on platforms.

#DSA #PlatformRegulation #disinformation #propaganda #politicaladvertisting #freedomofexpression #EUlaw

🗳️ Madalina Voinea will discuss the Expert Forum report on TikTok's use during Georgescu's campaign and the broader phenomenon of disinformation via digital platforms

The report is available here: expertforum.ro/en/tiktok-in...

#Disinformation #RomanianElections #TikTok

🗳️ Eugen Popa will tackle the philosophical challenges raised by digital platforms: how does TikTok campaigning affect critical thinking?

#TikTok #criticalthinking #philosophy #digitalplatforms #newtechnologies