Google's Compliance with EU's DSA

Anonymous third-party paid political advertising in the Cyprus 2026 parliamentary elections

MedDMO researchers tracked ads naming Cyprus’s 753 registered candidates across Meta, Google and TikTok ad libraries/APIs and identified five anonymous third-party advertising operations totalling more than 450 political ads, including one spreading fabricated polling data days before the vote. Enforcement was weak and reactive: Meta removed less than 1% of flagged ads while still live and TikTok logged only one removal in 220 days, but after researchers escalated directly to the platforms and the European Commission, Meta removed 687 ads within 30 hours and TikTok removed 631 ads within five days.

Ex-post analysis of the rapid response system during Malta’s 2026 general elections

Over a 21-day window around Malta’s snap 30 May 2026 general election, MedDMO’s Maltese team reported 296 URLs to Meta and Google, the majority unlabelled political advertising in breach of EU ad-transparency rules and the platforms’ own terms. Platforms mostly acted within one to two days, but enforcement was inconsistent: on Google, removed unlabelled ads were sometimes almost immediately republished by the same advertisers, and on Meta a coordinated inauthentic network of pages/profiles was taken down, partially reinstated on election day, then removed again.

Clickbait Cures: Unmasking the Deceptive Health Ad Infrastructure on Meta and Google

Collected 350,549 Facebook ads and 2,073 Google ads (2023-2026) promoting unregulated nutraceuticals with false medical claims, reaching an estimated 878 million accounts across the EU on Facebook; 20% of the 390 products studied had been flagged by EU or national health authorities as illegal or dangerous, yet coordinated advertiser networks kept promoting them.

War profiteers: online ads and the machinery of propaganda for war

Examines how governments deploy war propaganda through online advertising and argues platforms bear responsibility under international human rights law to prevent monetizing it.

Malicious semi-compliance as the platform approach to EU regulation

Argues big tech feigns compliance with the DSA while sidestepping its intent through 'malicious semi-compliance.'

A Cross-Country Analysis of Electoral Advertising on Meta and Google during the EU 2024 Elections: Compliance, Transparency, and Targeting

Across 15 EU countries during the April-June 2024 EU Parliament election window, roughly 30,000 political ads were published and about €8.7 million spent on Meta and Google political advertising. Meta’s and Google’s own definitions of ‘political advertising’ were found not fully aligned with the EU’s Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising Regulation (2024/900), with both platforms only partially meeting its transparency and targeting-disclosure requirements.

Public Data Access Programs: A First Look

First systematic evaluation of 19 platforms' researcher data-access programs; access varies widely and data quality is poor.

Confusing Google predictions and unbalanced politics on TikTok and Instagram

CrossOver Finland analysis found politically unbalanced content on TikTok and Instagram alongside confusing Google search predictions ahead of the 2024 elections.

Impact of regulation on children’s digital lives

Meta, Google, TikTok and Snap made 128 documented child-safety and privacy changes between 2017 and 2024, peaking at 42 changes in 2021 when the UK Age Appropriate Design Code took effect; Meta alone accounted for 61 of the changes. Only 8 of 50 companies contacted with information requests responded.

Full Disclosure: Stress Testing Tech Platforms' Ad Repositories

With CheckFirst: tested ad-transparency tools of 11 companies; none rated 'ready,' with major data gaps and inaccuracies.

Mozilla commissions CheckFirst to conduct a stress test of Ad Repositories

First comprehensive report on DSA-strengthened platform ad libraries, finding the ad transparency tools failing to meet their intended purpose.