Brussels — New EU-wide rules on political advertising take effect today. The Regulation on the Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising (TTPA) promises clearer labelling, tighter limits on microtargeting and a ban on foreign-funded political ads in the three months before a vote.
It is a technical measure, but it lands in a political climate shaped by recent disinformation rows, and it will alter how parties, platforms and publishers operate.
Context matters. In Romania last November, the first round of the presidential election was annulled after intelligence reports allegedly pointed to Russian efforts to push a previously little-known ultranationalist, Călin Georgescu, on social media. French contests in June and July 2024, and the Czech general election last weekend, were also reported to have faced Moscow-made disinformation. Brussels has therefore sought a single rulebook to replace uneven national regimes that pre-date modern online campaigning.
What users will see is straightforward. Paid political posts online should now carry a prominent label stating they are adverts, naming the sponsor, the contest they concern and how much was spent. Each advert’s data will sit in a public repository. Organic political speech remains untouched: a candidate’s unpaid post is not captured; a paid placement is.
The mechanics of targeting change more subtly. Platforms may only use personal data for political ad targeting where a user has given express, separate consent. Sensitive data is out of bounds; data about minors cannot be used at all. In practice, fewer hyper-granular adverts should appear, and where they do, people should be told why they were shown them.
The immediate shock is on supply. Meta has suspended political ad sales across Facebook, Instagram and Threads in the EU. Google has taken a similar line, including on YouTube. LinkedIn and TikTok were already closed to such ads. X allows them only within local rules. This means fewer paid political messages on the largest services as the rules bed in.
Campaigns will adjust at speed. Larger parties and familiar leaders can lean on established audiences and news coverage. Smaller parties and lower-ranked candidates, who had relied on low-cost, highly targeted digital buys, may find reach harder to achieve. Expect budgets to move to channels where compliant political placements remain possible, to broader formats in print and broadcast, and to content designed to travel further organically. Some teams are likely to test influencer endorsements, which they must declare and label as sponsored political communications.
The publishers’ side is less discussed but important. Media groups warn that a broad definition of “political advertising” could catch issue-based advertising and that programmatic systems can serve placements automatically, potentially exposing publishers to liability if labels or declarations fail upstream. They want clear formats for sponsor declarations and certainty over verification duties. Smaller outlets, in particular, say they lack the tooling to police third-party adtech pipes.
For users, the promise is transparency and fewer intrusive targeting practices. For regulators, the test is enforcement. National authorities will supervise compliance; the Commission has issued guidance and says fines can follow for serious breaches. The first electoral test comes quickly: the Netherlands votes on 29 October.
There are limits to what the law can do. It does not govern what politicians may say, or police unpaid speech. It does not replace national campaign rules on spending or conduct. Nor does it end the incentives that reward attention-grabbing messages. Parties will still try to find angles that travel.
The measure seeks to bring sunlight to paid persuasion at a time when the cost of amplification fell and cross-border influence grew. Its success will be judged not by the number of labels added, but by whether voters, journalists and watchdogs can see who is attempting to reach whom, and on what basis, when Europe next goes to the polls.
Recent campaigns show the scale. During last year’s EU elections, a single Google placement for Hungary’s Viktor Orbán reportedly cost more than €60,000 and drew over 10 million views in 11 days. Ahead of Belgian local polls, Flemish parties spent over €1.7 million on Meta, with Vlaams Belang topping €500,000. Publishers, too, will be watching closely.
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