Developing
Only the first page of each letter was released; "reprimand" is noyb's word, and the legal reasoning is not public.
In 60 seconds
- The notices cover 2021 Facebook ads that targeted voters by political interest, from complaints noyb filed on March 21, 2023.
- noyb says the authority reprimanded the four parties and found no legal basis such as consent; the notices reportedly include no fine or ban.
- The underlying 2021 TV project had 17,451 participants and analysed 134,000 Facebook ads.
- The AfD complaint remains open and the ÖDP complaint is not mentioned in the release.
Impact Layer
- What changed
- A German regulator has found, after more than three years, that parties used political-interest targeting without a valid basis.
- Why it matters
- Political opinion is special category data under GDPR, so targeting on it needs explicit consent, which affects advertisers and platforms in the EU.
- Who is affected
- Political campaigns, agencies, platforms and privacy teams in Europe.
- Martech stack area
- Advertising, Data
- Stack impact
- If you target on political or other sensitive interests in the EU, check the legal basis, and note that TTPA rules have applied since October 10, 2025.
- Business impact
- Moderate Reported in PPC Land from noyb's publication. The authority's reasoning, the specific ads and any corrective measures are not public; noyb's summary and the released pages differ in wording.
- Related technologies
- What to watch
- The AfD complaint and any similar decisions elsewhere.
The Berlin data protection authority (BlnBDI) dated its closing notices September 24, 2026; noyb published them on October 21, according to PPC Land.
What they cover
- The CDU, SPD, Bündnis 90/Die Grünen and Die Linke, over 2021 Facebook ads that targeted voters by political interest, from complaints noyb filed on March 21, 2023.
- noyb says the authority reprimanded the four parties and that there was no legal basis, such as consent, for the targeting. The notices reportedly include no fine and no ban. noyb’s Felix Mikolasch: “We welcome the Berlin DPA’s decision.”
- The underlying 2021 TV project had 17,451 participants and analysed 134,000 Facebook ads; noyb filed six complaints in total.
Open items
The AfD complaint remains open. The Berlin Administrative Court dismissed the AfD’s lawsuit against the authority’s information demands on March 11, 2026. The ÖDP complaint is not mentioned.
Not stated
The authority’s legal reasoning, the specific ads and any corrective measures. Only the first page of each letter was released, and the word “reprimand” appears in noyb’s summary, not the released pages.
Context
The Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising regulation has applied since October 10, 2025, and Meta blocked political ads across the EU from October 6, 2025.
Our read
Treat political-interest targeting as special category data. The regulatory trail for 2021 ads is long, but it ended in a finding.
Sources
- PPC Land: Berlin finds CDU, SPD, Greens and Left broke GDPR with Facebook targeting (opens in a new tab)
Source for the notices, noyb's account, figures and what is missing.