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Parliamentary Questions

eu dossier

2021 

Gambling advertising on social media profiles
STATUS: ANSWERED

Question for written answer E-000909/2021 to the Commission 
by MEPs Adriana Maldonado López (S&D, Spain), Clara Aguilera (S&D, Spain)

The draft Digital Services Act contains measures to make online advertising transparent. This should be mandatory for large online platforms, including social media. Some people’s profiles use social media, such as Instagram, or platforms such as YouTube, to advertise products or services, including online gambling or betting shops, which are not illegal in themselves but which should be considered harmful and may lead to addiction, among other problems, and to widespread scamming. Some Member States already have a code of conduct whereby a profile must indicate if an advert is paid for, but this does not get to the root of the problem. In view of the above, and given that this is a cross-border problem, does the Commission intend to establish clearer rules to prevent harmful products or services from being advertised on social media profiles with a high level of internet penetration?

Answer

The Commission takes note of the concerns of the Honourable Members. The Commission complemented rules such as the Audiovisual Media Services Directive, the General Data Protection Regulation, the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive and other sector-specific rules with the proposal for the Digital Services Act (DSA).

The DSA does not define what is illegal but covers illegal advertising through measures such as notice and action obligations or orders from authorities. It imposes transparency measures towards users for ads served on online platforms and enhanced transparency and scrutiny measures for very large online platforms. The DSA introduces an obligation to address risks of dissemination of illegal content, negative impacts on certain fundamental rights, and intentional manipulation of the systems with negative effects for public policy concerns related to public health, minors, civic discourse, electoral processes and public security. This also covers advertising systems of online platforms. A novel EU governance mechanism ensures the supervision of the obligations. If the content infringes the rights of consumers granted by the EU legislation, Member States’ consumer protection authorities can in specific cases, in accordance with the Consumer Protection Cooperation Regulation, remove content, restrict access or display warnings. As regards content which is not in itself illegal, stakeholders agree that it should not be subject to removal obligations, as this would have severe implications for the protection of freedom of expression. The DSA imposes due process obligations following the removal of content, including when this follows the terms and conditions of the service provider.

Date: 15-02-2021