Google requires its advertisers to be transparent about how much money they spend in political advertising. The reason the rules exist is that advertising a political party or a candidate is not like selling chocolate, it is not just a matter of money. If democracy and voter behaviour become purely an extension of how much money a party can spend, then we would not have a people’s choice. We would have the choice of the richest.
Look at the transparency report issued for Malta by Google. It’s a live report so what you see when following this link is what is correct at the time you’re checking it. At the time I’m posting it, on the second day of the campaign, the report shows only advertising space purchased through Google Ads by the Nationalist Party. Through the report you can see how much they spent on Google ads and you can also see that the advertiser has been certified as the Nationalist Party. That reassures you that there isn’t some hidden funder paying for this to undermine our democratic process.
Is that something you need to be reassured about? Yes. We’ve had elections when, say, the regime of Azerbaijan or even some branch of the Italian mafia would have benefited with and outcome of an election more to their liking than any alternative. Malta’s passport scheme benefited hundreds of Putin’s oligarchs and as Russia flexes its muscles it is not beyond the realm of possibilities that they might be interested in securing a specific outcome in Malta’s elections. A loyal puppet within the European Union would make for a nice asset as Vladimir Putin shifts his pieces on the chess board. Malta’s elections are not the Brexit referendum or Trump’s election campaign, I grant you. But transparency is meant to put our minds at rest.
Bigger elections have been trumped by alien interference before. We have no reason to assume we face no such risks.
Labour adverts online are all over the place. The screenshot in the top right corner of the adverts reproduced here is the tell-tale sign that these bookings are taken out using Google Ads. And yet these adverts do not feature in Google’s transparency report. Labour is hiding how much it’s spending on these and who’s paying for their ad space.
This is not merely a flagrant contempt for rules. It could be covering up something altogether more sinister.
Even this should make you wonder whether this country is still capable of conducting free and fair elections.