To celebrate the launch of YouGov’s new European Political monthly survey, a new YouGov study of seven EU countries – France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Spain – examines public attitudes social media regulation and banning political advertising from social platforms.
Do Europeans think social media companies are regulated enough?
The French are the most likely to think that social media regulations are too relaxed, at 53%, with the plurality of people in the Netherlands (47%), Germany (42%), and Italy (38%) saying the same.
By contrast, Spaniards, Poles and Romanians are more closely split between those who think regulations are too lax and those who think they are about right. Relatively few in any country think that social media laws are too tight, with this figure highest in Romania at 18%.
Would Europeans support banning political adverts on social media?
There is particularly widespread support for banning political adverts from social media platforms in Spain (66%), France (57%) and Poland (53%), with half of Germans (50%) also agreeing.
In Italy, the Netherlands, and Romania, the public proves divided, with only a two-point gap separating each side of the argument.
Voters for far-right parties are more opposed to advertising bans and less likely to think regulations are too lax
While the political landscapes of each country differ greatly, our results do show that voters for far-right parties are generally more opposed to political advertising bans on social media.
For instance, in Germany, net support for such a ban is +46 among voters for the centre-left Greens, +27 for the centre-right CDU, +8 among the centre-left SDP, and -12 among the far-right AfD.
We see the same general outcome in France, Italy, the Netherlands and Romania – although notably not in Spain, where net support among VOX voters is generally as high as among other major parties.
(Please note, in cases where the far-right vote in a country is small, or fractured, it was not always possible to gather a sample large enough for each party to show. The same also applies for other parties).
Similarly, voters for far-right parties are generally the least likely to say that social media regulations are too relaxed. This may be less to do with political ideology and more to do with partisanship – it is possible that such voters expect that tighter regulation might be used to disadvantage their parties. Notably, in Italy – currently governed by the far-right Fratelli d’Italia – this party’s voters are the most likely to think regulations are too relaxed.
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