Motion Dandrès (22.4153): Microtargeting of holders of a political mandate on the Internet
Submitted text
The Federal Council is instructed to draw up regulations governing microtargeting, which targets holders of a political mandate on the Internet, in such a way that this practice becomes more transparent for citizens.
Justification
Setting a legal framework for modern practices related to the processing of personal data is a major political challenge. The future Data Protection Act, which will come into force on September 1, 2023, does provide a minimal response to this issue. However, certain undesirable developments are still possible. They must be prevented by clear and appropriate laws.
In the political arena, it is important to pay attention to a particularly intrusive method of communication. Social networks such as Twitter collect countless data from their users and can thus obtain from them a very Create precise profile. Thanks to this fact, they can offer their customers a microtargeting tool with which they can Target advertising messages to a very limited segment of the population can. Experts have proven that holders of a political mandate are directly addressed by certain interest groups as part of advertising campaigns on the Internet.
This practice is clearly a new type of political lobbying. The messages disseminated in the margins of parliamentary debates are targeted at a few Internet users identified as Swiss politicians. They concern specific topics and are intended to strengthen the positions of the interest groups they represent. In contrast to lobbying known in the Federal Parliament, lobbying in social networks has not even elementary transparency rules. Certain organizations can therefore try to directly influence some of the members of parliamentwithout anyone knowing about it. Even the main people affected do not know that the campaign specifically targets them. This opaque practice must be curtailed to ensure transparency as a fundamental democratic principle.
Statement of the Federal Council of 16.11.22
In recent years, so-called “micro-targeting” has become a common practice offered by Internet platforms such as Facebook, YouTube or Twitter to their advertising customers. It allows profiles of users to be created on the basis of the data collected, mapping their preferences in detail. This enables advertisers as well as lobbyists to tailor their messages to the respective target groups. Users with other profiles do not see the content.
Micro-targeting concerns any kind of advertising. Micro-targeting in the political context potentially affects the entire voting population, not just political office holders.
The plan adopted in October 2022 Digital Services Act provides for due diligence obligations for operators of digital platforms in the EU. In the area of micro-targeting, it obliges the platforms, among other things, to display information to users about the clients of the advertising. It prohibits platforms from displaying advertising based on so-called sensitive data and requires them to create an archive for the advertising and make it publicly accessible.
DETEC (Federal Office of Communications) is preparing a discussion paper on behalf of the Federal Council. This is to examine whether Swiss regulation of the platforms is appropriate and what form such regulation might take.. The result of this work should not be anticipated.
Motion of the Federal Council dated 16.11.22
The Federal Council proposes that the motion be rejected.