Political advertising on online platforms are now met with stricter data privacy requirements across the EU. Under Regulation (EU) 2024/900, which came into full effect on 10 October 2025, organizations running political ads must now obtain explicit user consent specifically for political advertising purposes, before processing any personal data.
For providers of political advertising services and political advertising publishers, this means that consent banners must include its own additional and clear option allowing users to specifically opt in or opt out of data processing for political advertising. Failure to meet these requirements can expose your company to regulatory penalties.
Below, we outline the new obligations and explain how to configure your consentmanager setup to stay fully compliant.
Facts about the Regulation (EU) 2024/900
- Entry into force: 10 October 2025
- Scope: Applies to all political advertising and political ad targeting activities across the EU
- Legal reference: EUR-Lex: Regulation (EU) 2024/900
- German implementation: Politische Werbung Transparenzgesetz (PWTG)
1. Collect explicit consent before showing political ads
Under Regulation (EU) 2024/900, political advertising requires an explicit opt-in.
Users must actively give their consent before their personal data can be used for political ad targeting.
In practice, this means that your consent banner needs a separate option such as “I consent to political advertising”.
Important:
- Only first-party data that is directly collected from or observed by the user may be used.
- Third-party or brokered data may not be used for political profiling.
2. Keep proof of explicit consent
Controllers must be able to prove that consent was collected correctly.
This includes keeping records of when and how the consent was given and for which purpose (“Political Advertising”). Such documentation is required for audits or checks by regulators.
With consentmanager, this process is simple.
Using the consent records and audit export features, you can automatically store and export proof of user consent whenever needed.
3. Document and disclose your targeting practices
Providers of political advertising services and publishers of political advertising must disclose:
- which data they use for political targeting
- how target groups are defined
- which factors influence the delivery of the ads
An annual risk assessment covering, among other things, data protection, freedom of expression, and discrimination risks is also mandatory.
In addition, it must always be clear to users why they are seeing a particular political ad. This can be shown, for example, through a small symbol or a transparency notice displayed directly within the ad.
How to configure political advertising consent with consentmanager
consentmanager offers the functionalities to collect explicit consent for political advertising in line with Regulation 2024/900. Here’s how to configure your setup correctly:
1.Create a new purpose
In your dashboard, go to Menu > CMPs > Purposes. You can create a new separate purpose and name it “Political Advertising”. Here’s an example of a purpose description:
“Political advertising
We would like to show you political advertisements that are tailored to you. This means we may analyze your personal data (for example, your profile details, preferences, or interactions with our service) to determine which political ads are relevant, and decide how often and where they appear. If you do not agree, you will still be able to use our service, but without political advertising.”
2.Enable explicit consent
In the purpose settings, make sure the purpose is activated.
3. Define the legal basis
Click on the Europe flag icon under Legal Base for this purpose to edit the legal basis.
4. Set to explicit opt-in
We recommend setting the legal basis to Explicit Opt-In (Explicit Consent) to meet the requirements for political advertising under Regulation (EU) 2024/900.
For full instructions, visit our dedicated help page:
How to configure political advertising consent in consentmanager CMP:
https://help.consentmanager.net/books/cmp/page/working-with-political-ads
Takeaway
Political advertising must be transparent, consensual and verifiable. Platforms can no longer rely on the current consent setup for ‘personalised ads’ and political ads should not be grouped together with general marketing ads. Instead, they must implement specific, explicit and documented opt-ins for political targeting.
With consentmanager, you can efficiently and effectively meet these new requirements and ensure that your advertising operations remain compliant with Regulation 2024/900.
