Source: European Parliament
Question for written answer E-002936/2025
to the Commission
Rule 144
Brando Benifei (S&D), Mounir Satouri (Verts/ALE), Catarina Martins (The Left), Benedetta Scuderi (Verts/ALE), Laura Ballarín Cereza (S&D), Thomas Bajada (S&D), Alessandra Moretti (S&D), Cecilia Strada (S&D), Annalisa Corrado (S&D), Sandro Ruotolo (S&D), Rudi Kennes (The Left), Marco Tarquinio (S&D), Camilla Laureti (S&D), Leila Chaibi (The Left), Daniel Attard (S&D), Matjaž Nemec (S&D), Nacho Sánchez Amor (S&D), Ana Miranda Paz (Verts/ALE), Nela Riehl (Verts/ALE), Saskia Bricmont (Verts/ALE), Kim Van Sparrentak (Verts/ALE), Estelle Ceulemans (S&D), Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (S&D), Lucia Yar (Renew), Udo Bullmann (S&D), Rima Hassan (The Left), Alessandro Zan (S&D), Mimmo Lucano (The Left), Nikos Pappas (The Left), Estrella Galán (The Left), Marta Temido (S&D), Michael McNamara (Renew)
The UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, an Italian citizen, has been targeted by coordinated smear campaigns and deceptive paid advertisements linked to the Israeli government[1][2]. This targeting of a European citizen engaged in vital human rights work undermines her safety, professional reputation and the EU’s duty to shield its citizens from harassment and disinformation online.
Since October 2023, Israeli government-affiliated actors have conducted extensive digital advertisement campaigns targeting EU users on platforms such as Google, YouTube and X. The campaigns feature graphic war imagery and emotionally charged, sometimes misleading claims, and they often lack clear ‘political’ labelling. Reports indicate possible misuse of advertising accounts, microtargeting of EU citizens and missing entries in transparency databases, with some advertisements impersonating trusted entities such as the UNRWA.
This pattern raises concerns about compliance with the Digital Services Act (DSA), particularly on advertisement transparency (Article 26), systemic risk mitigation (Articles 34 and 35) and crisis response (Article 36).
- 1.How is the Commission investigating potential DSA breaches by very large online platforms related to transparency, targeting and circumvention of political advertisment rules by Israeli state actors?
- 2.What steps is the Commission taking to ensure platforms address systemic risks, including disinformation, manipulative advertisement formats and exposure of minors to harmful content?
Submitted: 16.7.2025
- [1] The Guardian, article entitled ‘UN expert on Palestine targeted by coordinated smear campaign, investigation finds’, 13 March 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/13/un-expert-palestine-coordinated-smear-campaign-francesca-albanese.
- [2] Fanpage.it article entitled ‘Il governo israeliano sta comprando annunci su Google per screditare Francesca Albanese: l’indagine di Fanpage.it’, 9 July 2025, https://www.fanpage.it/innovazione/tecnologia/il-governo-israeliano-sta-comprando-annunci-su-google-per-screditare-francesca-albanese-lindagine-di-fanpage-it/.