CDT Europe Leads Civil Society Open Letter on the Regulation of Political Advertising: EU Lawmakers Must Uphold Human Rights to Privacy and Free Expression
The Centre for Democracy & Technology (CDT Europe) joined 26 other organizations in urging EU lawmakers to establish strong rules for political advertising by retaining a clear focus on paid advertising that does not interfere with the right to free expression, data protection or privacy.
From the letter:
As academic and civil society research and campaigns have made clear, targeting people with messages based on sensitive data on their tracked behaviour and perceived traits threatens privacy, free expression, and freedom from discrimination. It can also undermine the right to freely form an opinion which can have a serious negative impact on election integrity; such tactics should have no place in human rights respecting democracies. Now, however, a “non-paper” from the European Commission Services, leaked by Contexte and Politico, indicates a strong desire among some negotiators to soften these data protection rules, including allowing the use of especially sensitive categories of personal data such as ethnicity, religious belief or information on gender or sexual orientation in the targeting of political advertising.
This proposal goes against what the majority of people want.
Op-Ed: France’s Constitutional Council Ruling Tests the Limits of Social Media Bans
Read our analysis the legal and policy significance of the Constitutional Council’s decision on ongoing social media age restriction and age assurance debates ahead of the most-anticipated EU-wide approach on child online safety due by December 2026.
As Brussels starts emptying for the summer, the risks of frontier AI models continue to capture the attention of policymakers as a key chapter of the AI Act becomes enforceable, and disclosure rules around the use of AI systems and AI-generated content are further clarified.
CDT Europe’s Feedback on the Draft Guidelines for the Classification of High-Risk AI Systems under the AI Act
CDT Europe responded to the European Commission’s consultation on the draft guidelines for the classification of high-risk artificial intelligence systems.
Open Joint Letter on a Public Reassessment of the EU-US Adequacy Decision
On 29 June, the US Supreme Court ruled that US President Trump can remove the leaders of independent agencies and commissions, overturning nearly 90 years of precedent limiting executive power. This decision raises serious questions about one of the key safeguards underpinning the EU-US Data Privacy Framework adopted in 2023: independent supervision.
