- 2024
- 2025
- 2026
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Political Advertising Regulation
Establishment of an Ad Repository under the Political Ads Regulation
Entry into force of the Political Ads Regulation
After a 3-year legislative procedure, the EU’s Regulation on Transparency and Targeting of Political Ads (TTPA), a set of new rules to regulate political ads, was published in the Official Journal and entered into force on 9 April 2024. This marks the start of the implementation period, with all rules to become fully applicable only in 2026.
Entry into application of the Political Ads Regulation
The EU’s Regulation on Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising became fully applicable as of October 2025, with the exception of the establishment of the ad repository. From this date, online political ads will have to be identified and labelled as such, with information on targeting criteria, sources of funding and their link to elections or referenda. However, its prospects currently appear shaky: the industry it is aiming to regulate stepped out of the market to avoid compliance with the new rules, leaving the Regulation's relevance and effectiveness uncertain.
Establishment of an Ad Repository under the Political Ads Regulation
In April 2026 the Ad Repository under the Political Ads Regulation will have to be fully established. This will collect political ads to increase transparency for researchers, journalists and other experts on broader political ads campaigns.
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence has been at the top of the EU agenda since the start of the 2019-2024 mandate, with the proposal for an Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act). The discussions around it, however, intensified further in 2023, with the boom of generative AI systems. From deep fakes of politicians circulated online to AI-generated disinformation campaigns, from AI systems used for microtargeting of political ads to chatbot-based AI systems to provide voter assistance, AI applications with the potential to impact democracy and elections are countless. EPD is therefore working on assessing the effectiveness of mechanisms in the AI Act to mitigate the risks posed by such applications.
The Digital Services Act
The Digital Services Act (DSA) is an EU horizontal framework of rules put forward to create a safer online space. As many challenges posed by online platforms and regulated via the DSA can have an impact on democratic civic discourse and electoral processes, such as the spread of disinformation, coordinated attacks against civil society or the lack of transparency on how recommender systems work, having a DSA that works for democracy is of utmost importance for EPD.
Transparency and targeting of political advertising
Political advertising online has been historically the main focus of EPD’s work in the digital sphere. Since the Cambridge Analytica scandal, it has become increasingly evident how online practices such as micro-targeting of political ads can steer public opinion ahead of elections. When the European Commission put forward its proposal for a Regulation on Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising (TTPA), EPD took an active role in leading the advocacy work on this file by promoting more transparency and accountability for both sponsors and online platforms.
Our work on these files is funded by Civitates and the Open Society Foundations.