Social Media Marketing Do’s and Don’ts for Election Season 2024 (Politics and Social Media)

What are the rules for political ads on each major social media platform, and what should you consider when advising clients during election season and beyond? Does your team understand what can brands can say in paid ads on social media when it comes to social issues, like health and civil and social rights?

Politics and social media: everything you need to know!

TLDR:

• TikTok: No political or issue-based advertising allowed.
  • The latest on Kamala/Walz “digital rapid response” operation and all-Gen-Z TikTok team. 

• Meta (Facebook & Instagram): Allows ads about social issues, elections, and politics with verification and disclaimer requirements.

• Google (YouTube): Requires identity verification for election ads and restricts targeting options for such ads.

• LinkedIn: Political ads are prohibited. Politics and social media don’t mix on this platform.

• X (Formerly Twitter): Permits political advertising with pre-approval and limited targeting options.

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We’ve rounded up the most current updates around political, social issues and election advertising policies implemented by each major platform ahead of the 2024 election season. 

TIKTOK

The platform does not permit ad content and landing pages to feature political or issue-based advertising. 

TT Advertising Policies – Politics and Social Media – Political and issue-based advertising includes ads:

• that reference, promote, or oppose candidates or nominees for public office, political parties, or elected or appointed government officials;
• referencing an election, including voter registration, voter turnout, and appeals for votes;
• Including advocacy for or against past, current, or proposed referenda, ballot measures, and legislative, judicial, or regulatory outcomes or processes;
  • This includes ads that promote or attack government policies or track records;
• As well as ads that reference, promote, or sell, merchandise that features prohibited individuals, entities, or content, including campaign slogans, symbols, or logos.

META (Facebook & Instagram)

Meta, unlike TikTok, does permit ads about social issues, elections and/or politics, but they have established measures to promote authenticity and legitimacy for anyone wishing to run ads about social issues, elections or politics. Explore Meta’s policies and safeguards for elections around the world.

For Meta platforms, ads about social issues, elections or politics are qualified as:

• Made by, on behalf of, or about a candidate for public office, a political figure, a political party, a political action committee or advocates for the outcome of an election to public office; or
• Any election, referendum, or ballot initiative, including “go out and vote” or election campaigns; or
• About social issues in any place where the ad is being placed; or
• Regulated as political advertising.

A few other important, qualifying details for advertisers: 

• These ads must have a disclaimer with the name and entity that paid for the ads. If an ad runs without a disclaimer, it’ll be paused, disapproved and added to the Ad Library, until the advertiser completes the authorization process. Read More. 
• Intergovernmental organizations (defined as having a membership of three or more sovereign states bound together by a treaty) qualify to run ads about social issues in member states unless otherwise prohibited to do so. 

An Important Note: Brands/organizations will need to complete the ad authorization process via Meta, which is available ONLY for those advertisers who reside in the targeted country at the time they run ads. Plan ahead, as documents for authorization must be issued by an advertiser’s local country or state, cannot  be expired, and for some countries, may require a notarized form.

All ads will be added to the Ad Library, even if the advertiser who created them hasn’t completed the ad authorization process.

Meta policies are frequently reviewed, revised and updated, so be sure to check back here for the latest.

GOOGLE (Youtube)

Google Ad Policies govern YouTube, supporting the digital advertising ecosystem – including political content and election ads. 

Like Meta, Google requires Advertisers to verify their identity and eligibility as part of an application process to run election ads. Google does note that this requirement may vary by region. Google also updated their policy in Fall 2023 to make disclosure of AI-generated content mandatory ahead of election season. 

In terms of targeting,  the company permits advertisers running political/election content to use only the following criteria to target election ads:

• Geographic location (except radius around a location)

• Age, gender

• Contextual targeting options such as: ad placements, topics, keywords against sites, apps, pages and videos

All other types of targeting are not allowed for use in election ads. This includes all Audience Targeting products, Remarketing, Customer Match, Geographic Radius Targeting, and Third Party Audiences, such as uploaded lists.

Google, and therefore YouTube, qualify election ads in the United States as ads that feature:

• Current officeholder or candidate for an elected federal office. This includes federal offices such as that of the President or Vice President of the United States, members of the United States House of Representatives or United States Senate
• A current officeholder or candidate for a state-level elected office, such as Governor, Secretary of State, or member of a state legislature
• Federal or state level political party
• State-level ballot measure, initiative, or proposition that has qualified for the ballot in its state

Further, Google has a number of policies to support a healthy digital advertising ecosystem, including political content. These policies govern the content that is shown in advertisements across Google, which includes YouTube. More information on these policies can be found here.

Google election ad and political ad policies can be reviewed here in their entirety. 

LINKEDIN

Per LinkedIn’s advertising policy: Political ads are prohibited, including ads advocating for or against a particular candidate, party, or ballot proposition or otherwise intended to influence an election outcome; ads fundraising for or by political candidates, parties, political action committees or similar organizations, or ballot propositions; and ads exploiting a sensitive political issue even if the advertiser has no explicit political agenda.

X (Formerly Twitter)

X permits the promotion of political advertising when compliant with country-specific legal requirements, election laws and applicable electoral silence periods mandates.

Both political ads and political campaigning ads are permitted, but do require advertisers to obtain pre-approval by first getting certified.

All advertisers must comply with X’s Sensitive Categories Targeting Policy. Only the following criteria may be used to target political campaigning ads: Location, Age, Gender, Interests & Keywords, Custom Audiences & Follower Look-alikes. 

Unlike other platforms, X does provide an “exemption” to their Political Content Policy for news publishers, allowing them to run ads that reference political content, candidates, political parties, or elected or appointed government officials. News publishers must self-identify and meet the criteria for this exemption to apply.

Be sure to bookmark this post so that you can continue to check back as we update this page with the latest political advertising policy updates during election season.