Transparency Rules in Online Political Advertising:
Mapping Global Law and Policy
C. Menezes Cwajg
October 2020.
Executive summary:
In response to the rise of online political microtargeting, governments across the globe are launching transparency initiatives. Most of these aim to shed light on who is buying targeted political ads, and how they are targeted. The present Report offers a comprehensive mapping
exercise of this new field of regulation, analysing new laws, proposed or enacted, that impose transparency rules on online political microtargeting.
The Report consists of two components: a global overview, and detailed case study of the United States. The first section begins with a geographical overview by showing where and what initiatives were proposed and enacted, looking in particular at Canada, France, Ireland, Singapore and the United States. It then unpacks these initiatives in greater detail by outlining what requirements they impose in terms of disclosure content, scope of application, and format. The second section of the Report then zooms into the United States, outlining the various initiatives that have been proposed and enacted at state-level.
This report has been prepared by Carolina Menezes Cwajg. It was written under the academic guidance of Dr. Jef Ausloos and Paddy Leerssen, at the Institute for Information Law (IViR) and the Information, Communication & the Data Society (ICDS) Initiative at the University of Amsterdam.
The findings and views expressed in this report are solely those of the author and should not be attributed to any of the other aforementioned entities. Comments and suggestions are welcome at
operational-transparency@ivir.nl