Driving Digital Political Advertising Compliance: What Speeds Up Progress?
Nina-Belle Mbayu, Counsel, Privacy Technology, BBB National Programs; Divya Sridhar, Vice President, Global Privacy Division and Privacy Initiatives Operations, BBB National Programs; Mary K. Engle, Executive Vice President, Policy, BBB National Programs
Growth in digital political advertising increased exponentially in 2024 from previous election cycles, and future spending on digital political advertising will likely exceed 2024’s $3.46 billion. As the numbers rise, the public, including regulators, will have their eyes on digital advertising tactics. Political advertisers should consider their responsibility for providing transparency to consumers regarding the political ads that consumers view.
There is widespread support for the idea that users of the web and mobile apps should be able to access accurate and complete information about the source, funding, and other support behind federal and statewide political ads.
Shareholders are also emphasizing transparency in political activities – in 2021, 24% of U.S. companies’ resolutions involving the disclosure of political and lobby expenditures received majority support from their respective shareholders. Additionally, corporate-backed groups are championing laws against dark money spending.
Meanwhile, there remains an emerging patchwork of varying state-level laws and regulations governing digital political advertising disclosures, while industry codes of conduct and self-regulatory principles guide the way in supporting the ecosystem on the best practices for compliance in disclosing sponsorships.
Even before the FEC’s revised rules on digital political ads went into effect, industry self-regulation had provided guidance and oversight for the digital advertising industry through codes of conduct and principles issued by the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA). The DAA’s Self-Regulatory Principles provide a “consumer touchpoint to foster transparency” about digital advertising, and the DAA’s Application of the Self-Regulatory Principles of Transparency & Accountability to Political Advertising guides stakeholders on political advertising transparency. Thus, the principles now serve as an important complement to the FEC’s rules.
The Political Advertising Principles require advertisers who place paid ads for federal and statewide elections to provide 1) enhanced political advertisement notice displayed on the face of the ad, clearly signifying that the ad is a political ad, and 2) political advertisement notice for sponsorship, informing consumers about who paid for the ad through an intermediate webpage or overlay.
Enhanced political advertisement notice is essentially the real-time messaging to consumers that the ad is sponsored and political. Typically, this notice can be in the form of an icon such as the DAA’s Political Ad icon (see below), or the message can appear on the face of the ad. Political advertisement notice is a broader notice to the consumer with details about who is funding the political ad, and how to best contact them. This type of notice typically requires additional space and should be easily available after the user clicks the ad; this one-click action should take voters to a designated page or overlay.
To illustrate, Sections II.A and II.B of the Political Advertising Principles guide the industry on the following:
Image Source: The DAA Political Ad Icon: Help Every Digital and Mobile Political Ad for Statewide and Federal Office Provide Real-Time
Transparency in digital advertising is particularly important – if not crucial – as it pertains to empowering specific subsets of voters, with younger voters being one of the most impacted. For example, a recent Pew Research Center survey showed that voters aged 18-49 years old are three times more likely than voters over 50 years old to get their news from Instagram, TikTok, and Reddit, and twice as likely to get their news from X (formerly known as Twitter).
Advertisers may shape ads that appeal to certain age groups, races, genders, religions, or geographic locations. Transparency in advertising helps level the playing field for voters to understand the sources of the ad and, when concerning targeted ads, provides information on how to opt out of data collection from the ads they see.
Beyond the DAA’s principles for political advertising, keep in mind these general best practices when handling voter data:
To guide the industry in future elections, DAAP published its Compliance Guidance: “How to Ensure Transparency in Political Advertising.” Please use this Compliance Guidance as a reference as you review, publish, or otherwise engage with digital political ads.
Stay tuned to DAAP’s monitoring activities throughout the year and check out the DAA’s Political Ads website to learn more about the DAA’s political advertising program and principles.
Growth in digital political advertising increased exponentially in 2024 from previous election cycles, and future spending on digital political advertising will likely exceed 2024’s $3.46 billion. As the numbers rise, the public, including regulators, will have their eyes on digital advertising tactics. Political advertisers should consider their responsibility for providing transparency to consumers regarding the political ads that consumers view.
There is widespread support for the idea that users of the web and mobile apps should be able to access accurate and complete information about the source, funding, and other support behind federal and statewide political ads.
Shareholders are also emphasizing transparency in political activities – in 2021, 24% of U.S. companies’ resolutions involving the disclosure of political and lobby expenditures received majority support from their respective shareholders. Additionally, corporate-backed groups are championing laws against dark money spending.
So, what are the rules?
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) revised its digital advertising rules in 2022 to better detail how advertisers should provide the public with information about digital political advertising sponsorship, making the sponsorship transparency requirement's application to internet communications explicit in federal law. Specifically, the FEC’s updates align with the sponsorship requirements and guardrails on TV, mail, and other traditional forms of political advertising.Meanwhile, there remains an emerging patchwork of varying state-level laws and regulations governing digital political advertising disclosures, while industry codes of conduct and self-regulatory principles guide the way in supporting the ecosystem on the best practices for compliance in disclosing sponsorships.
Even before the FEC’s revised rules on digital political ads went into effect, industry self-regulation had provided guidance and oversight for the digital advertising industry through codes of conduct and principles issued by the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA). The DAA’s Self-Regulatory Principles provide a “consumer touchpoint to foster transparency” about digital advertising, and the DAA’s Application of the Self-Regulatory Principles of Transparency & Accountability to Political Advertising guides stakeholders on political advertising transparency. Thus, the principles now serve as an important complement to the FEC’s rules.
The Political Advertising Principles require advertisers who place paid ads for federal and statewide elections to provide 1) enhanced political advertisement notice displayed on the face of the ad, clearly signifying that the ad is a political ad, and 2) political advertisement notice for sponsorship, informing consumers about who paid for the ad through an intermediate webpage or overlay.
Enhanced political advertisement notice is essentially the real-time messaging to consumers that the ad is sponsored and political. Typically, this notice can be in the form of an icon such as the DAA’s Political Ad icon (see below), or the message can appear on the face of the ad. Political advertisement notice is a broader notice to the consumer with details about who is funding the political ad, and how to best contact them. This type of notice typically requires additional space and should be easily available after the user clicks the ad; this one-click action should take voters to a designated page or overlay.
To illustrate, Sections II.A and II.B of the Political Advertising Principles guide the industry on the following:
Enhanced Political Advertisement Notice  |
Political Advertisement Notice  |
Consumers should receive enhanced notice of political advertising through words, symbols, or icons on the face of the ad clearly stating that the ad is a political one. This enhanced notice should be displayed prominently and is useful for smaller ads that cannot include all sponsorship details, aligning with federal law on adapted disclaimers. |
Consumers should also receive adequate disclosure and contact information for those who sponsored and/or authorized the political ad. The DAA recommends including contact information and a link to a database for past political contributions. |
Image Source: The DAA Political Ad Icon: Help Every Digital and Mobile Political Ad for Statewide and Federal Office Provide Real-Time
Disclosures for Voter Transparency https://digitaladvertisingalliance.org/blog/daa-political-ad-icon-help-every-digital-and-mobile-political-ad-statewide-and-federal-office
Transparency in digital advertising is particularly important – if not crucial – as it pertains to empowering specific subsets of voters, with younger voters being one of the most impacted. For example, a recent Pew Research Center survey showed that voters aged 18-49 years old are three times more likely than voters over 50 years old to get their news from Instagram, TikTok, and Reddit, and twice as likely to get their news from X (formerly known as Twitter).
Advertisers may shape ads that appeal to certain age groups, races, genders, religions, or geographic locations. Transparency in advertising helps level the playing field for voters to understand the sources of the ad and, when concerning targeted ads, provides information on how to opt out of data collection from the ads they see.
Beyond the DAA’s principles for political advertising, keep in mind these general best practices when handling voter data:
- Data points collected through political advertising – voter affiliation, age, state of residence, precise location, and other related data points – are considered a “sensitive category” of data in many state privacy laws and should be treated as such.
- If a political ad employs targeted advertising technologies for interest-based advertising (“IBA,” also known as targeted advertising), the DAA has advised that enhanced notice indicators and icons for political advertising take priority.
DAAP’s Recently Published Compliance Guidance: “How to Ensure Transparency in Political Advertising”
The Political Advertising Principles authorize the DAA to choose independent accountability partners. BBB National Programs was designated as a DAA Political Ads Program accountability partner in January 2020, with BBB National Program’s Digital Advertising Accountability Program (DAAP) team being responsible for monitoring, reporting, and other compliance efforts.To guide the industry in future elections, DAAP published its Compliance Guidance: “How to Ensure Transparency in Political Advertising.” Please use this Compliance Guidance as a reference as you review, publish, or otherwise engage with digital political ads.
Stay tuned to DAAP’s monitoring activities throughout the year and check out the DAA’s Political Ads website to learn more about the DAA’s political advertising program and principles.