The Committee of Ministers adopted a declaration on the manipulative capabilities of algorithmic processes on 13 February 2019 in which they warn against the risk of using algorithmic processes to manipulate social and political behaviour. In the Declaration, ministers expressed their fear that individuals due to the use of advanced digital technologies, in particular micro-targeting techniques may not be able to formulate their opinions and take decisions independently of automated systems, and that they may even be subjected to manipulation not only with relation to their economic choices but also in their social and political behaviours.

In the Declaration the Committee of Ministers calls on the 47 member states to consider the “need for additional protective frameworks related to data that go beyond current notions of personal data protection and privacy and address the significant impacts of the targeted use of data on societies and on the exercise of human rights more broadly”.