Series of articles on Regulation 2024/900 on the transparency and targeting of political advertising (TTPW)
Regulation 2024/900 on the transparency and targeting of political advertising (TTPW) has been in force since 10 October 2025. Through the TTPW, the European legislator aims to prevent the dishonest influencing of political decisions. The rationale behind the TTPW is undoubtedly an important one: political advertising interferes with legislative processes and electoral decisions. Where this involves disinformation, it can be highly problematic. However, the TTPW goes further and places political advertising as such under general suspicion. This regulatory flaw must always be borne in mind when applying the TTPW.
The provisions of the TTPW are complex. This is likely one of the reasons why the Commission has published guidance on the implementation of the TTPW. In line with other European regulatory frameworks, the TTPW also provides for sanctions which apply in addition to other sanction regimes, in particular those of the GDPR.
The national data protection supervisory authorities are responsible for enforcing the TTPW. Presumably due to its proximity to ‘political Berlin’, the Data Protection Conference has agreed that, in Germany, the Berlin supervisory authority will take the lead in dealing with the TTPW. The first proceedings are already underway, including those in which we are involved.
In this series of articles, we will present selected legal issues relating to the TTPW and provide initial answers to the numerous legal questions arising from the application of the Regulation.
Part 4: Duties of care and overlaps with other areas of law
In what is, for the time being, the final instalment of this series, we provide an overview of the other, non-data-protection-related obligations under the TTPW. These are primarily aimed at publishers of political advertising and providers of services in the context of political advertising. We also examine the interplay with other areas of law. Specifically:
Obligations for providers of political advertising services
Providers of political advertising services are defined in Article 3(6) of the TTPW. These are natural or legal persons who provide political advertising services – that is, the drafting, placement, promotion, publication, delivery or dissemination of a message – whilst online intermediary services as defined in Article 3(g) of the Digital Services Act (DSA) are not intended to be covered, nor are purely ancillary services. An example of a purely ancillary service would be the mere printing or dispatch of election leaflets without any influence over their design.
Restriction on freedom of contract
Article 5(1) of the TTPW establishes a prohibition on discrimination. Providers of political advertising services must not disadvantage a sponsor solely on the grounds that the sponsor is resident or has a place of business in a particular location. The key word here is ‘solely’. Not every instance of differential treatment is prohibited. Rather, the decision as to whether a service is provided must not be based exclusively on the sponsor’s place of residence or establishment and thereby be discriminatory. The sponsor is the person or organisation on whose behalf a political advertisement is produced or disseminated. As a rule, this is the person or organisation that pays for the advertising service. An example: An advertising agency offers political advertising services in several EU Member States. A party based in France wishes to place a political advertisement for a campaign in Germany. The agency refuses the commission on the sole ground that the party is based in France.
Article 5(2) of the TTPW lays down a further, separate restriction: in the three months preceding an election or a referendum, political advertising services may, in principle, only be provided to sponsors who meet the conditions set out therein. These include, for example, EU citizens and certain legal entities established within the EU. Stricter national regulations remain permissible. This therefore amounts to a de facto requirement of discrimination to the detriment of third-country nationals.
Completeness and accuracy; drafting of contracts
Under Article 6 of the TTPW, providers of political advertising services must ensure that any information they have received in connection with political advertising and which is subject to the transparency obligation can be provided in a complete and accurate manner. The service contract must clearly regulate this. However, there is no obligation to verify or re-examine the information. Nevertheless, a certain degree of plausibility check should be carried out, as providers of advertising services are under an obligation to draw attention to obvious errors under Article 7(4) of the TTPW.
In addition to this obligation to verify, Article 7 also sets out specific requirements regarding the drafting of the service contract with the parties responsible for the content, known as ‘sponsors’. For example, the contract must expressly stipulate who is obliged to provide the information required under the TTPW.
Documentation obligation
Section 9 of the TTPW contains a retention obligation for certain information. This primarily includes information relevant to the transparency notice (see below).
Obligations to transmit and retain information
The TTPW provides for obligations to transmit certain information: under Article 10 to the publishers of political advertising; under Article 13 to a European archive; under Articles 14 and 16 to the competent authorities; and under Article 17 to certain authorised ‘interested parties’. Admittedly, this essentially comprises ‘only’ the information that must in any case form part of the transparency notice. However, under Article 9(3) of the TTPW, this information must be retained for seven years and is therefore also subject to the disclosure obligation for this period (upon request).
Representative in the Union
Finally, it should be noted that – as is already the case under other Union legal acts – Article 21 of the TTPW requires the appointment of a representative in the Union. This obligation applies where political advertising services are offered in the EU without the provider being established in the Union.
Obligations for publishers of political advertising
According to Article 3(13) of the TTPW, a ‘publisher of political advertising’ is a provider of political advertising services who publishes, delivers or disseminates political advertising via any medium. The term is therefore narrower than that of ‘provider of political advertising services’ under Article 3(6) of the TTPW, with the result that the obligations applicable to providers of political advertising services may also have to be observed by publishers. Whether this is the case, and if so, to what extent, is to be determined by the relevant obligation.
Labelling and transparency obligations
The most relevant obligation in practice – because it is easily verifiable from the outside – is the labelling obligation under Article 11 of the TTPW, which was already discussed in Article 3. The political advertisement itself must make it clear that it is political advertising, who is responsible for it, what it relates to, whether targeting methods are used, and where the transparency notice can be found. This includes the obligation to ensure that the information provided there is complete and accurate.
The Commission has already adopted an implementing act on this matter (Regulation 2025/1410).
The transparency notice under Article 12(1) of Regulation 2024/900 (TTPW) constitutes a comprehensive duty to provide information. The following information must be provided:
- clear details of the sponsor (points (a) and (b))
- how long the notice will remain public (point (c))
- the amount (and how it is calculated) and the source of the remuneration paid for the advertising service (points (d) to (f))
- what the advertisement relates to (points (g) and (h))
- where it is archived (lit. i)
- the reporting procedure (lit. j) – see below for further details
- Any previous action taken in relation to the advert (lit. k)
- Use of certain personal data (lit. l)
- the scope of the political complaint (lit. m)
Here, too, the TTPW’s excessive and, in some respects, superfluous list of obligations is evident. Take, for example, Article 12(1)(i) of the TTPW: the obligation to specify in which archive the political advertisement is stored. However, there is likely to be no interest in this at all. After all, whilst the political advertisement is published, it can be viewed publicly anyway. If it is no longer published, the political advertisement is no longer a political advertisement, as its publication is what defines the term (without dissemination, there is no political advertisement). In that case, however, the labelling requirement under Article 12(3) of the TTPW no longer applies either, meaning that interested parties can no longer obtain information from the advertisement itself as to which archive the political advertisement is stored in. It is to be hoped that the national authorities responsible for enforcing these obligations will take these and other technical shortcomings of the TTPW into account when enforcing the law.
The obligation under point (m) is likely to be particularly difficult to implement. According to this, the reach of the political advertisement must (where possible) be specified in the transparency notice. As this information will be so extensive that it would hardly make sense to attach it directly to the political advertisement, it will, in practice, usually be accessible via a hyperlink – or, in the case of print media, via a QR code. Particularly in the digital sphere, a technical link enabling precise measurement of reach in such a way that this can be automatically displayed in the transparency notice is hardly reasonable. Once again, due restraint is called for when enforcing this provision. Approximate figures regarding the advertisement’s reach – which, in the case of print media, are likely to be only ‘technically feasible’ anyway – must therefore suffice.
Reporting procedure
Anyone publishing political advertising must, in accordance with Article 15 of the TTPW, set up a free and user-friendly reporting procedure for this purpose. This is intended to enable breaches of the TTPW to be identified and rectified more quickly. If, for example, a report is made by a person via a ‘report political advert’ button (or similar wording) embedded on the publisher’s website, the measures taken as a result must, under certain circumstances, be communicated to the person making the report. The reporting procedure therefore involves not only receiving and processing the report, but also the possibility of responding to it.
How does the TTPW affect e-commerce?
The TTPW contains provisions governing the provision of political advertising services. This also includes those provided digitally. However, these are not, strictly speaking, provisions relating to e-commerce, as they do not regulate the content of the contract but rather the manner in which the covered advertising services are provided. There is therefore no direct interaction with statutory requirements relating to e-commerce. Rather, the two areas of law exist side by side. The TTPW does, however, have a significant influence on the contractual arrangements. As mentioned above, freedom of contract (and contractual design) is, in some respects, restricted or prescribed by law. This must be taken into account and implemented in addition to the regulations on the digital provision of services. Furthermore, pursuant to Article 2(3)(c) of the TTPW, the provisions of the Unfair Competition Act (UWG) regarding fair trading continue to apply.
Although the TTPW and the Digital Services Act (DSA) also coexist in principle, as the concept of an ‘advertising service’ excludes that of an ‘intermediary service’, few provisions will be directly relevant.
Conclusion
The TTPW establishes a far-reaching transparency and due diligence system for political advertising. Providers of political advertising services must structure their contracts and processes in such a way that the required information is complete, accurate and available in the long term. In particular, publishers of political advertising are subject to the obligation to clearly label such content and to provide an easily accessible transparency notice regarding the sponsor, funding, duration, political context, targeting and – where possible – reach. Furthermore, they must offer a free, easily accessible reporting procedure. The TTPW neither replaces data protection law nor other rules governing digital advertising, but rather supplements them and, in particular, increases the contractual, organisational and technical requirements for political advertising campaigns.