The Rise of Ad Transparency in 2025
- Regulators turned up the heat: EU DSA enforcement and state AI‑ad disclosure laws set new baselines.
- Platforms opened (and sometimes closed) the blinds: Meta and Google expanded ad visibility; TikTok stumbled; X lagged; some paused political ads in the EU.
- AI forced clarity: deepfake disclaimers and broadcaster rules advanced, but organic virality remains a loophole.
- Receipts win: public ad libraries + watchdog analysis = actionable civic signal.
Regulatory crackdowns & new rules
Governments moved from guidance to enforcement. In the EU, the Digital Services Act requires large platforms to keep a public, searchable ad repository with sponsor and targeting info. In the U.S., the FTC is applying truth‑in‑advertising rules to influencer and AI‑assisted content; states adopted AI‑ad disclosure laws; the FCC proposed on‑air AI disclaimers for political spots.
Platform policies in practice
The transparency map isn’t uniform. Toggle to scan the big four.
Meta (Facebook/Instagram) maintains a global Political Ad Library and, to comply with EU law, archives all ads shown in EU countries for at least a year. Researchers get API access; outside the EU, political/issue ads remain the main focus. In late 2025, Meta announced a pause on political ads in the EU rather than implement a new political ads regulation.
AI in advertising: disclosures & deepfakes
Generative tools lower the cost of persuasive media. 2025 pushed toward “say if it’s synthetic”: state laws and proposed broadcast rules require disclaimers for materially AI‑generated content in political ads. The hard part: enforcement against non‑paid viral deepfakes and shell‑sponsored issue campaigns.
Watchdogs & civic tech
Ad libraries only matter if someone reads them. Journalists and researchers used platform archives to surface illegal placements, shell spending, and targeting patterns. Civic tools (including ours) are turning raw ad data intoreceipts the public can browse.
Looking ahead
Transparency is becoming table stakes. Expect stricter standards for ad‑library searchability, researcher access, and AI labeling — alongside attempts by some platforms to sidestep compliance by limiting political ads in strict jurisdictions.
Receipts
| Title | Source | Date | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| EU DSA: Ad repository requirement (VLOPs) | European Commission / DSA | 2024–2025 | Open |
| Meta Ad Library (EU all-ads expansion) | Meta | 2023→ | Open |
| Google Ads Transparency Center | 2023→ | Open | |
| TikTok Commercial Content Library overview | TikTok | 2023→ | Open |
| EU: Preliminary finding — TikTok non-compliance on ad transparency | European Commission (press) | May 2025 | Open |
| State AI-disclosure laws for political ads (survey) | Legal analysis (US) | 2024–2025 | Open |
| FCC proposal: AI disclosures in broadcast political ads | FCC | 2024 | Open |
| Reuters: Meta to pause EU political ads ahead of new law | Reuters | July 2025 | Open |