Ban on Facebook political ads “dark day for democracy” says Ó Ríordáin

Labour MEP Aodhán Ó Ríordáin has criticised Meta’s decision to cease all political advertising in Europe.

In October, Meta, which owns Instagram, Facebook, Threads and WhatsApp, will ban political advertising within the European Union.

In recent times, Meta has clashed with European regulators; Threads, Meta’s alternative to Twitter, wasn’t allowed to operate in Europe well after the app launched in the rest of the world owing to concerns over how user data was processed and handled.

Ó Ríordáin said the ban was “a dark day for democracy” and asserted that the ban would “result in a massive increase in disinformation and electoral manipulation from sinister forces.”

The Dublin MEP pointed to the recent election in Romania, where TikTok was banned during the campaign, as the Romanian election authority found that the far-right, pro-Russian candidate, Calin Georgescu, had a disproportionate advantage on TikTok compared to other candidates.

Documents declassified by the Romanian Security Services indicated Georgescu received coordinated support from foreign actors and this was one of the reasons the first round of voting was annulled by the Supreme Court, with the election eventually being won by pro-EU, liberal candidate Nicu?or Dan.

Ó Ríordáin said he wasn’t opposed to the rules in principle, saying the legislation will allow citizens to see why they are seeing political ads, who is paying for them and how much is being spent on the ads.

However, Ó Ríordáin noted that “this doesn’t mean that political messaging on Meta will disappear.”

“Meta’s actions will only facilitate sinister actors, who have no interest in transparency and truth, to manipulate the platforms with lies, disinformation and hate,” he said.

“I am calling on Meta to reverse this decision. Social media platforms play an important role in political discourse. The new EU regulations seek only to ensure that political advertising is legitimate, transparent and identifiable. This is positive. By ceasing legitimate political advertising Meta is closing down political debate and opening the door to the sinister forces that will flood its platforms with lies and disinformation. Democracy is the ultimate victim of Meta’s decision.”