Unchecked Political Ads: Pro-Russian Propaganda on Meta Ahead of EU Elections
Between May 1-27 2024, Meta approved at least 275 pro-Russian propaganda ads (lacking required disclaimers) targeting Italy, Germany, France and Poland, reaching over 3 million accounts.
Executive summary
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Working with AI Forensics, CheckFirst monitored political advertising on Meta's platforms between May 1 and May 27, 2024, in the run-up to the EU Parliament elections, focusing on ads targeting Italy, France, Germany, and Poland and testing how easily pro-Russian content could bypass Meta's disclosure and moderation systems.
The investigation identified at least 275 ads lacking the disclaimers required for political advertising, collectively reaching over 3 million accounts — 1.44 million in Italy, 854,000 in France, 429,000 in Germany, and 350,000 in Poland. The ads promoted pro-Russian propaganda narratives and evaded review using simple obfuscation techniques such as hidden characters and split words.
The report concludes that Meta's ad-review systems remain vulnerable to exploitation despite the European Commission's March 2024 DSA guidance on election integrity, and calls for more sophisticated detection methods and stricter regulatory enforcement to curb foreign interference in EU elections.
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