The political environment of the media market in 2022, Slovakia

In response to concerns over media ownership concentration and potential political influence on media outlets, the government enacted new legislation aimed at enhancing media ownership transparency. The legislation also addressed source protection, advertising regulations, safeguarding minors, and editorial responsibility for published content. Additionally, the rules governing traditional and digital media were unified, with regulations extended to content published on online platforms and video platforms. 

In December, the Slovak Parliament voted to abolish television license fees for public media, enabling the direct financing of public radio and television (RTVS) from the state budget starting in July 2023. Furthermore, new legislation effective from February 2022 impacted online platforms by regulating how the cookie consent bar should work and look like. Moreover, in the face of Google’s deprecation of 3rd party cookie, which has now been pushed back to 2024, all of the biggest Slovak publishers agreed on one common solution for 1st party ID in the beginning of 2022.