That said, it seems questionable whether transparency of paid political advertising is enough or if more is needed to roll back the situation where financial power can manipulate the electoral process to the extent that democracy is severely threatened. Paid political advertisements do not only provide advertisers an unfair advantage in proliferating highly targeted and often misleading messages but enable them to seriously endanger what should be “free elections at reasonable intervals by secret ballot, under conditions which will ensure the free expression of the opinion of the people in the choice of the legislature” as provided for in Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 to the ECHR. Banning paid political advertising on social media may therefore be considered an option in order to ensure a fair electoral process.