Can you run political ads in the EU on Google?

Direct answerGoogle restricts political advertising in the European Union, as defined by EU Regulation 2024/900. On the political content page, that includes ads by, for, or on behalf of a political actor, unless the ad is purely private or purely commercial, and ads designed to influence an election, referendum, voting behavior, or a legislative or regulatory process. Official messages about how to participate, and some public-authority information that is not designed to influence the outcome, can run only after an exemption application for that account.

What Google treats as restricted

Policy: political advertising under EU Regulation 2024/900 is restricted on Google platforms when it is either of these:

• An ad by, for, or on behalf of a political actor, unless the ad is of a purely private or a purely commercial nature.
• An ad which is liable and designed to influence the outcome of an election or referendum, voting behavior, or a legislative or regulatory process, at EU, national, regional, or local level.

Google’s definition of an EU political actor, taken from that regulation, includes a political party or an entity related to its activity; a political alliance; a European political party; a candidate for or holder of elected office at EU, national, regional, or local level, or a leadership post inside a party; a member of EU institutions, with stated exceptions for the Court of Justice, the European Central Bank, and the Court of Auditors, or a member of a Member State government at national, regional, or local level; a campaign organization set up to influence an election or referendum; and a person or organization representing any of those and promoting their political objectives.

The same section also restricts ads that feature a political party, coalition, current elected officeholder, or candidate for the EU Parliament or an elected national office in an EU member state, or a referendum question, a referendum campaign group, or a call to vote on a national referendum or a state or provincial referendum on sovereignty.

Interpretation: the page does not give examples of “purely commercial.” A shop ad that happens to be bought by a party is not automatically outside the rule. How to authorize a US federal election ad is a different workflow, on the US political-ads guide.

The exemption is narrow, and it is per account

Google says these ads will be permitted after a successful application:

• Messages from official sources of Member States or the EU that are strictly limited to the organization and modalities of participating in elections or referendums, including announcing candidacies or the referendum question, or promoting participation.
• Public communication that provides official information by, for, or on behalf of a public authority of a Member State or the EU, including members of a Member State government, provided the ads are not liable and designed to influence an election, referendum, voting behavior, or a legislative or regulatory process.

If you believe you meet that test, Google says you can apply for an exemption or appeal. An agency or anyone who manages multiple accounts must apply for each account. The policy section does not publish a form address in the text reviewed here. Use the link on the live political-content page rather than a bookmark from a partner.

Advertiser verification also asks an EU political-ads question. The verification guide notes that answering Yes there means the campaign cannot run in the EU. That declaration is not the exemption application above.

France has an extra window

During the period beginning three months before the first day of the month in which a general election is to be held, and ending when the election is over, Google prohibits ads in France that contain informational content relating to a debate of general interest. The exception on the page is ads run by official government communication bodies, such as the Service d’information du Gouvernement, promoting public-health guidance related to the COVID-19 crisis or information about electoral processes.

Google’s political-content page also restricts political ads in other places, including Brazil, parts of Canada, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan. Those rules are not the EU regulation. Open the live page for a country this article does not cover. False claims about voting procedures, even inside an allowed ad, are still unreliable claims.

Sources

• Google Ads: Political content

Reviewed October 6, 2026. Election calendars and the regulation’s enforcement can change. This is not legal advice.

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