While political parties in Estonia see the halting of political advertising by Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta as a potential threat to democracy, the European Union regulation which prompted Meta’s decision falls so close to Estonia’s local elections, campaigning will continue as planned.
Political parties lean on social media more and more at every election as a campaign tool, while TV and radio spots and outdoor advertising are diminishing in importance.
However, on October 10 a new EU regulation, the Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising regulation (TTPA), comes into effect which puts in place political advertising transparency norms, aimed at combating foreign influence in elections.
Meta has said it will stop all advertisement about politics, elections, and social issues on its platforms in the EU as of October, due to the incoming legislation on political advertising.
Center Party secretary general Anneli Ott said Meta’s political advertising ban will likely affect individual candidates or electoral alliances which are not yet widely known, more than a large and established party like Center. Ott said the issue should be looked at from the longer-term perspective too, as social media ads will likely have already done their job for the upcoming election, when the ban comes in.
More read: ERR.EE
