Google is contacting advertisers about the mandatory EU political ads deadline

Google is contacting advertisers directly by email, requiring them to ensure that their campaigns contain EU political ads – with a hard deadline of 31 March.

Why do we care. This is not optional. EU regulation now requires Google to verify the status of political ads for all active campaigns, and advertisers who do nothing before the deadline could face compliance issues.

What’s going on. Google is asking every advertiser to declare that their existing campaigns include EU political ads. The requirement applies to all current campaigns and must be completed by March 31, 2026.

How to comply: Google has revealed three ways to submit a confirmation:

• Campaign level — Go to Campaign Settings and select “EU political ads” to verify individual campaigns.
• Many campaigns – Go to the Campaigns tab and use the “EU political ads” option to confirm several at once.
• Account level – Validate all new and existing campaigns at once. Selecting “No” at the account level automatically applies that response to all campaigns, including future ones. You can override this for individual campaigns at any time.

Between the lines. The account level option is the most efficient route for many advertisers who are confident that none of their campaigns fall under the definition of EU political ads. Google has made it easy to undo or modify a selection at any time, so there’s no risk in doing it ahead of time.

An important point. Check your inbox — Google communicates directly with advertisers. If you’re running campaigns targeting an EU audience, sign in and complete confirmation before March 31st to stay compliant.

It was first seen. This update was spotted by Paid Search expert, Arpan Banerjee, who shared the comms details on LinkedIn.