What publishers and AdTech companies should know about the TTPA-Regulation: Political advertising in the EU
Regulation (EU) 2024/900 on transparency and targeting of political advertising (TTPA-Regulation) was implemented to protect the integrity of democratic processes and make it easier for citizens to classify and recognize political advertising.
For media companies, marketers, and AdTech providers, the TTPA-Regulation means an expansion of their compliance obligations: They must document and publish comprehensive information about their political advertising. In addition, there are restrictions and prohibitions on the use of personal data.
In the IO business, the implementation of the requirements is expected to be manageable. The greatest challenges are likely to be in the area of programmatic advertising, although currently it may still be possible to implement such advertising in a scalable manner in private marketplaces.
The regulation has been fully applicable since October 10, 2025.
In this article, I will limit the scope to those players that are not classified as very large online platforms or very large online search engines.
What is "political advertising"?
The regulation distinguishes between two cases in which advertising is considered political:
Subjective: When the advertising is created or disseminated by, for, or on behalf of a political actor. Messages of a purely private or purely commercial nature are excluded.
Political actors are political parties and organizations affiliated with them, political alliances (i.e., coalitions of several parties), office holders or candidates for office, leaders in parties and candidates for such office, members of EU institutions (except the ECJ, ECB, ECA), members of member state governments, and campaign organizations established solely to influence election or referendum results. All persons or organizations acting on behalf of one of the aforementioned actors and promoting their political goals also fall under the term "political actor."
Objective: If the advertising aims to and is likely to influence voting decisions, voting behavior, or a legislative/regulatory process.
Article 8(1) of the TTPA-Regulation provides guidance on the characteristics that are decisive for the assessment. These include the content, the sponsor, the language used, the context (in particular the period of dissemination), the target audience, the purpose of the message, and the means used to create and disseminate the message. The Commission has drawn up non-binding guidelines to assist in the assessment.
The definition is very broad. It can cover not only traditional election advertising, but also so-called issue-based advertising. Campaigns on climate policy, migration, tax law, or social debates can therefore also fall unter the definition of political advertising. The brand identity of the respective company and the connection to ongoing legislative procedures or referendums will also be essential in the assessment. If, for example, a company is committed to sustainability and social justice, advertising with these messages will not automatically qualify as political advertising.
Who is affected? Roles & responsibilities along the media and AdTech value chain
It is crucial for publishers, marketers, and AdTech providers to understand their respective roles, as they are subject to different transparency and documentation requirements. The definitions in Article 3 of the TTPA-Regulation are broad and cover all stages of the advertising chain.
Providers of political advertising services (Art. 3 No. 6 TTPA-Regulation)
Companies that prepare, place, promote, publish, deliver or disseminate political advertising. This includes a wide range of companies, including:
Advertising agencies, creative and production service providers involved in the preparation of advertising;
Marketers who are involved in the placement of advertising;
DSPs & SSPs that are also involved in the placement and delivery of advertising;
Ad server operators that deliver advertising;
Social media advertising service providers, publishers, or influencers who publish and disseminate advertising.
Publishers of political advertising (Art. 3 No. 13 TTPA-Regulation)
This includes companies that make political advertising visible. According to the recitals, these are actors who are usually at the end of the chain. This includes publishers, influencers, online platforms, search engines, podcast publishers, streaming service providers, CTV/DOOH networks, but probably also ad server operators and marketers.
Sponsor (Art. 3 No. 10 TTPA-Regulation)
Sponsors are actors on whose behalf a political advertisement is prepared, placed, promoted, published, delivered or disseminated. These actors provide most of the information that AdTech companies and publishers need to fulfill their obligations under the TTPA-Regulation. Sponsors are typically political parties, NGOs, associations, companies, foundations, and lobby groups.
Conclusion
The TTPA-Regulation covers the entire digital advertising value chain. It is therefore important that each company identifies its own role(s) and maps its responsibilities.
Obligations per stakeholder group: Intermediaries & Publishers
Each link in the chain has its own, sometimes cumulative, obligations.
Overview of obligations: Providers of political advertising services
Contractually
Providers of political advertising services should conclude a clear written agreement with the sponsors and the sponsors' service providers (and to avoid writing this over and over in this article, I will just stick to writing the “sponsor”) regarding the provision of political advertising services. This agreement should regulate the following.
Division of responsibilities
Who is responsible for which transparency, information, and documentation obligations? This allows obligations to be bundled in a targeted manner.
Obligation of the sponsor to provide certain declarations
whether the advertising is political advertising; and
in the three months prior to an election or referendum, whether the sponsor or the sponsor's service provider is based in the EU and is not controlled by anyone outside the EU.
In principle, the provider can rely on the sponsor's self-assessment as to whether a statement by a political actor is private or commercial or constitutes political advertising (Recital 30 TTPA-Regulation). However, if there are indications of misclassification, there is an obligation to take action. In doing so, companies should take into account the attribution of knowledge within the company and create appropriate reporting channels.
Important: The sponsor is liable for the accuracy of the information.
Sponsor's obligation to provide and update information before and while the political ad is live. This includes in particular:
which political advertisement or campaign is being specifically promoted;
the origin of the funds (public/private, within/outside the EU) and the identity of the donor;
sponsor identity (name, contact details, controlling body, if applicable, registered office) and controlling entity;
reference to the election, referendum, or legislative/regulatory process, if relevant, and links to official information;
indication of whether and how targeting was used;
duration of the advertisement; and
information on whether previous versions of the ad were stopped due to rule violations.
Information about payments in the value chain.
The provider must be able to disclose information to the publisher about the amounts and other benefits that were paid to upstream players (e.g., agencies, DSPs, SSPs). This obligation arises indirectly from the fact that publishers are required under Article 12(1)(d) of the TTPA-Regulation to publish the aggregated amount received for the services from all parties involved.
In practical terms, this means that
the information must be able to be passed "downstream" to the publisher; and
contracts should contain confidentiality clauses that expressly limit the disclosure of such information to the purposes of fulfilling the TTPA-Regulation obligations in order to protect trade secrets.
Administrative
Providers of political advertising services are subject to retention requirements. The following must be retained for seven years from the date of the last action in connection with the political advertisement:
the political advertisement or the entire political advertising campaign;
a description of the specific services provided in connection with the political advertising;
invoices, including a description of the services and the value of the consideration received;
information on the origin of the funds (public/private source, within/outside the EU);
the identity and contact details of the sponsor and the entity that ultimately controls the sponsor; in the case of legal entities, also the registered office;
where applicable, details of the election, referendum, or legislative/regulatory process to which the political advertisement relates.
Operational
In addition to contractual and administrative obligations, functioning internal processes are required:
Dealing with obvious errors
If the provider discovers obvious errors in the sponsor's information, they must request that the sponsor correct them. This requires internal reporting and escalation channels to ensure that relevant information reaches the right people within the company.
External reporting channels
Providers should establish procedures to quickly inform publishers of political advertising and other providers involved if it turns out that information is incomplete or incorrect.
Requests from authorities
Processes must be in place to respond to inquiries from the relevant authorities in a timely manner, for example:
initial response within two working days;
substantive response within eight days, shortened deadlines (within two days) in the last month before an election.
Requests for information from researchers, NGOs, election observers, political actors, and journalists
Processes are required for this group to disclose information that must be available under the TTPA-Regulation:
Processing deadline: within one month;
Rejection is possible in certain cases provided for by law; and
Costs may be charged up to a maximum of the administrative costs incurred.
Contact point and representative
Providers must designate a contact point for competent authorities; and
Providers based outside the EU must appoint an authorized representative in the EU and provide them with sufficient resources.
Technical
Providers must design their systems and tools in such a way that legal requirements can be met in practice. This includes, in particular:
The booking and administration systems must enable sponsors to record, update, and transmit all necessary information in a structured manner.
The transmission of information—including corrections—to publishers must be technically ensured. Industry standards should be taken into account and, where possible, standardized, automated procedures (APIs, standardized data formats) should be used.
Overview of obligations: Publishers of political advertising
Publishers of political advertising—i.e., publishing houses, news portals, blogs, influencers, social media platforms, CTV/streaming services, apps, DOOH screens, audio platforms, etc.—have the most far-reaching obligations. They are a subgroup of political advertising service providers and must therefore fulfill all the obligations of this group plus additional transparency and documentation obligations.
As the final link in the advertising chain, publishers must ensure that all required information is made visible to users. In practical terms, this means that
they are responsible for the completeness of the transparency information; and
their contracts with sponsors and providers must clearly stipulate what information is to be provided and to what standard, and that this information must be updated without delay.
Labeling & transparency notice
Every political advertisement must be clearly recognizable as such to users and must be labeled with a transparency notice. This information can be included directly in the advertisement or be accessible via a clearly visible link/QR code.
The transparency notice must contain the following information:
a clear indication that the ad is political advertisement;
the identity of the sponsor and, where applicable, the entity that ultimately controls the sponsor, as well as – if different – the person/organization paying for the advertisement;
the period during which the advertisement is being displayed;
the aggregate total amounts received by all parties involved, as well as information on the origin of these funds (public/private, within/outside the EU) and a brief description of the calculation method;
information on how users can report violations;
if applicable, a note if previous versions of the advertisement were stopped or suspended due to violations;
if applicable, information about the election, referendum, or legislative/regulatory process concerned (including links to official sources of information);
if applicable, a link to the European Archive for Online Political Ads;
a statement on whether targeting is used; and
where technically feasible: information on reach and interaction.
The transparency notice must be appropriate for the medium, clearly visible, and easy to find. It must also remain intact or be retrievable when the content is redistributed (e.g., re-shares, embedding). The transparency notice must be available in the language of the advertisement and designed in accordance with accessibility requirements. Publishers must retain the transparency notices for seven years in addition to the other documents mentioned above.
The EU Commission published an implementing act with requirements regarding the transparency notice, which can be found here.
Operational
In addition to these content requirements, publishers need robust processes:
Contact channels for corrections
There must be a clear, functioning channel through which sponsors and other providers of political advertising services can submit missing or incorrect information or correct it.
Dealing with incomplete or incorrect information
If the publisher determines that information is obviously incorrect or incomplete, they must actively endeavor to contact sponsors or upstream providers and obtain a correction.
If mandatory information cannot be provided or corrected immediately, the political advertisement must not be published or must be suspended. Sponsors and affected providers must be informed of this.
Reporting obligations & annual financial statements
Publishers must structure the required figures on political advertising revenues and services received in such a way that they can be included in the management report of the annual financial statements and submitted to supervisory authorities.
Reporting system for legal violations
There must be a low-threshold reporting channel for users to report potentially non-compliant political advertisements (e.g., "Report ad" link below the ad or central complaints office).
In the last month before an election/referendum, reports on ads must be processed within 48 hours.
Relevant measures (e.g., removal or modification of an ad) must be communicated to the sponsor and participating providers if the report concerns the availability or display of the ad.
Data delivery to the EU archive
For online advertisements, publishers must provide the necessary information and copies of the advertisements to the European Archive for Online Political Advertisements and ensure that their systems can provide this data in a structured manner.
Targeting in political advertising?
The requirements for targeting political advertising apply to all controllers within the meaning of the GDPR, i.e., sponsors, providers of political advertising services, and publishers, insofar as they themselves decide on the purposes and means of data processing.
Targeting and the placement of political advertising are only permitted within a narrow, defined framework;
only personal data collected directly from the data subject may be used;
explicit, separate consent is required for political advertising;
special categories of personal data (e.g., political opinion, religion, health) may not be used for targeting;
no profiling may take place; and
political advertising must not be specifically targeted at individuals who can be reasonably assumed not to have reached voting age.
Signals and preferences set by users, for example via browsers, PIMS, or similar tools must be respected. In pay-or-consent models, an equivalent alternative without targeting must be offered. It remains unclear whether it is sufficient for a service to offer a pure pay model without personalized political advertising as an alternative.
With regard to governance, controllers must:
create internal guidelines on the use of targeting and ad placement for political advertising and make these available in a public version;
conduct an annual risk assessment and publish the results of this assessment; and
log the specific use of targeting measures.
In addition to the general labeling of political ads, targeting requires additional information about why someone sees a particular ad. In particular, those responsible must:
describe the underlying logic of targeting, e.g.:
audience segment;
data categories (e.g., location, interactions with content, interest segments) used;
the period during which the ad is distributed; and
how many "unique views" the ad has;
clearly indicate the rights of data subjects under the GDPR (information, correction, revocation of consent, objection); and
provide a simple interface through which these rights can be exercised.
Risks for publishers, marketers, and ad tech companies
The TTPA-Regulation not only introduces new transparency and targeting obligations, it also shifts responsibility within the advertising chain significantly. This creates legal, operational, and technical risks for publishers, marketers, and ad tech companies.
The specific penalties for violations are determined by the individual member states. In Germany, the current draft of the implementing act (the “PWTG”) provides that fines may be imposed for negligent or intentional violations, depending on the severity of the violation:
up to €30,000 or up to €300,000; or
alternatively, up to 6% of global annual turnover for companies above a certain turnover threshold.
Violations of transparency obligations or impermissible targeting may also be considered violations of the Unfair Competition Act (UWG) and may result in actions from competitors or consumer protection associations.
Political advertising requires its own governance, auditing, and technology pathways.
Isolate political advertising in the AdOps process
separate workflows for political campaigns (labeling, review, approval);
clear checklists for when a campaign is considered "political"; and
defined escalation paths.
Technical implementation in the AdTech stack
Adaptation of ad server, SSP, DSP, and order workflows to:
collect transparency data in a structured manner;
automatically block or flag campaigns with incomplete mandatory information.
Integration of additional transparency and product design requirements, especially for targeting and ad delivery functions.
Map the information flow and document which information is available and where to find it.
Update contracts. Publishers and ad tech companies need adapted or new contract clauses, especially regarding:
obligations to provide transparency data in full;
indemnification and liability if information is incorrect, incomplete, or delayed;
obligation to comply with technical standards (e.g., interfaces, data formats);
obligation to cooperate in complaints, reviews, and audits;
service levels for response times;
mechanisms for blocking or not displaying campaigns.
If you have questions about how to classify political advertising, understand your obligations under the TTPA Regulation, or structure your internal compliance framework, feel free to Get in Touch.
HGNLW provides legal advice across the full spectrum of EU digital regulation, including political advertising, AdTech compliance, GDPR, and platform governance. I support clients with legal assessments, documentation and retention requirements, contractual structuring, and regulatory interactions.