The European Commission (EC) has announced the introduction of new rules on political advertising in the European Union from 10 October: all paid content in media and social networks must be labelled as “political advertising“, the EC press service announced.
“From 10 October, all political advertising must be clearly labelled as such and accompanied by key information: who paid for it, how much and whether it is targeted to a specific audience, the statement said. This applies to advertising on television, print media and online platforms.
The new regulations also offer EU authorities “simple algorithms for distinguishing political advertising“ to “facilitate the task of supervision of compliance with this requirement“.
Although fines and other sanctions for violating these requirements have not yet been announced, the EC claims that declarations should be “made on a voluntary basis“ for now. At the same time, the European Commission promised to simultaneously set up a structure of representatives of EU member states who will be responsible for monitoring compliance with these rules online and in the media. The EC announced a special conference to share best practices on such supervision in 2026.
The European Commission stresses that it does not intend to control the content or ban political advertising, but only to ensure its “transparency“. The directive was adopted as part of the promised “increased transparency of democratic procedures in the EU“ and preparations for the European Parliament elections in 2029.