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Seen a political advertisement with no label, or a that looks wrong? You can report it, free of charge. Here is what you can report, where to start and what happens next.

Your right to report

Reg. 2024/900 Art. 15(1)
Political advertising publishers shall have in place the necessary mechanisms to enable natural or legal persons to notify them if a particular political advertisement that they have published does not comply with this Regulation.

So a report goes to the publisher: the newspaper, broadcaster, website, platform or other medium that published the advertisement. Anyone can make one, a person or an organisation. The mechanism must be free of charge, user-friendly and easy to access, including from the transparency notice (Article 15(2)), and every notice must say how to use it (Article 12(1)(j)). What is a transparency notice? walks through a fictional notice, point by point.

The Regulation calls whoever is behind an advertisement the sponsor. PolAds calls them the advertiser.

What you can report

The Regulation lays down transparency and related due diligence rules for political advertising and related services, rules on targeting and ad-delivery techniques that process personal data in online political advertising, and rules on supervision and enforcement (Article 1(1)). From a transparency notice you can report anything about the advertisement that does not comply with it. The form offers these reasons:

the advertisement carries no at all
the label is unreadable or incomplete
the transparency notice is wrong or incomplete
it was targeted or delivered in a way the Regulation does not allow (Articles 18 and 19)
the sponsor was not allowed to pay for it in the three months before the election or referendum (Article 5(2))
another breach of the Regulation, which you then describe

For an advertisement without a label, the form asks instead why you think it is political: it names a party or a candidate, it refers to an election or a referendum, it urges a vote or a political position, or something else, which you then describe.

If your concern is what the advertisement says, the form has an option for that too. It tells you that the Regulation does not cover the content of political advertisements (Article 2(2)), and you can still send the report.

Where to start

The advertisement has a label

A printed or on-screen label made with PolAds carries a web address, polads.eu/ followed by the advertisement's , which opens its transparency notice. You can also search the register. On the notice, point 12 gives the information on how to notify a possibly non-compliant political advertisement, which the template asks for, and links to the form, as its note allows (Impl. Reg. 2025/1410, Annex II, template point 12 and note 12). The form opens already linked to that advertisement.

Started from Report an ad instead? If the advertisement shows a PA-ID, type it at the top of that form and the notice opens with its own form. If no published notice has that PA-ID, the form tells you and you stay where you were.

PolAds closes the form on a notice three months after its publication period ends, and the notice then says so. PolAds chose that period. The Regulation does not set one, and Article 15(1) puts no time limit on a report. The notice stays public, and you can still go to a .

The advertisement has no label

Use Report an ad in the header or on the home page, in the citizen view. Choose the country, the type of media and the publisher that showed the advertisement. Your report goes straight to that publisher.

If the publisher is not on PolAds, choose My publisher is not listed. You can still send the report, but no publisher receives it and nobody will reply. PolAds emails you what to do instead: contact the publisher directly, since Article 15(1) applies to every political advertising publisher, and report the advertisement to a national authority.

Filling in the form

If you are not signed in, you sign in first and then return to the form. The Terms of Use describe this as giving a valid email address and entering a login code sent to it. Replies go to that address.

The form has three steps, covering what Article 15(3) lists: a substantiated explanation, information identifying the advertisement, and your name and email address.

Advertisement. Where and when you saw or heard it, both optional. Without a label you first choose the country, the type of media and the publisher, and for radio or a podcast you must say where you heard it.
Complaint. Choose what is wrong, or without a label why you think the advertisement is political, then explain it in your own words. Without a label you also attach a screenshot, unless it was on radio or a podcast. From a notice a screenshot is optional.
Your details. Your name, or that of the organisation you file for, and your email address. A phone number is optional.

What happens next

Step 1 of 4Sent

You send your report

Free of charge, after you sign in

What you receive

Nothing yet

The form has three steps: Advertisement, Complaint and Your details.
From a transparency notice, it opens already linked to that advertisement.

PolAds asks every publisher to decide within 14 days, or within 48 hours when the advertisement is linked to an election or referendum less than 30 days away. These are PolAds targets. The legal rule is Art. 15(7).

From your report to the publisher's decision

Receipt. An email confirms that your report arrived (Article 15(4)). For a report made from a notice it includes a copy of your report and the date by which you can expect an answer.
Under review. When the publisher opens your report, you are told it is being reviewed. If the publisher asks you for more information, you have 7 days to reply.
Decision. The publisher corrects the label or the notice, decides to discontinue the advertisement, or does not uphold your complaint. You receive the decision and the publisher's reasons.

Most publishers only have to tell you the follow-up if you ask (Article 15(6)(b)). On PolAds you receive it either way. The receipt and the decision also explain how to seek , as Article 15(8) requires. Several reports about the same advertisement may be answered together (Article 15(10)).

How long it takes

PolAds asks every publisher to decide within 14 days, or within 48 hours when the advertisement is linked to an election or referendum less than 30 days away. Weekends and public holidays count, which is how the Commission reads the 48 hours (Guidelines C/2025/5514, section 3.3.4). These are PolAds targets. The legal rule is narrower:

Reg. 2024/900 Art. 15(7)
In the last month preceding an election or a referendum, political advertising publishers shall process any notification they receive about a political advertisement linked to that election or referendum within 48 hours provided that the notification can be processed completely on the basis of the information included in the notification.

Micro, small and medium-sized publishers only have to make best efforts to process such reports without undue delay (Article 15(7)). If a PolAds deadline passes without a decision, you are told, and your report stays open.

Going to an authority

You do not have to wait for the publisher. Each Member State designates competent authorities to enforce the Regulation (Article 22). They must duly address every notification of a possible infringement and, if you ask, tell you the follow-up. If the competent authority is in another Member State, the one you contacted must pass your complaint on without undue delay (Article 24).

Your personal data

The publisher receives your report and sees your name and email address once it opens it. Your phone number is never shown to publishers, and the advertiser never receives your details. Fourteen days after the decision, your name, contact details and any screenshot are erased. Everything you sent is erased six months after receipt, decided or not. PolAds chose these periods. The Regulation does not set them.

For publishers

A report reaches your Complaint email. On , the email links to a secure page where you decide it. On , it opens in Complaints. Opening a report tells the complainant it is under review. You then correct, discontinue or reject, always with your reasons. Correct first where you can. The Commission reads Article 12(2) as requiring you to stop the advertisement only when its label or notice information cannot be completed or corrected without undue delay (Guidelines, section 3.3.4). Stopping it happens in your own medium. More in what a publisher has to do.

For advertisers

Reports go to the publisher, not to you. The publisher may send you a question about your notice by email, showing the PA-ID and a reference but never the complainant. When a publisher upholds a complaint, PolAds emails you the action taken (Article 15(9)). You correct the notice itself with an amendment. After a decision to discontinue, the public notice states that a previous publication was discontinued (Article 12(1)(k)).

Sources

Ova objava objašnjava kako PolAds tumači Uredbu. Nije pravni savjet.

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