Jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) Paid political advertising —

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Topic IndexJurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) Paid political advertising

There is an extensive jurisprudence regarding paid political advertising. On several occasions, the ECtHR ruled that a ban on paid political advertising constitutes a breach of freedom of expression under Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights and may violate freedom of expression of small political parties, since they receive minimal coverage in the edited media and thus paid advertising may be the only way to obtain coverage. However, in a recent ruling, the ECtHR mitigated its position, deciding that a ban on political advertising constitutes a permissible attempt to “protect the democratic process from distortion by powerful financial groups with advantageous access to influential media”.[1]

[1] Case of Animal Defenders International v. UK, ECtHR(GC) 48876/08 (22 April 2013)

See also, Bowman v. United Kingdom, App. No 24839/94, 26 Eur. H.R. Rep. 1 (1998).

TV Vest & Rogaland Pensjonistparti v. Norway, ECtHR,21132/05 (11 December 2008). See also VgT v. Switzerland (No 2) [GC] 32772/02 (30 Jun 2009).

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