Political advertising
Political advertising is generally understood as any communication that may influence the political process, electoral behavior, and/or election outcomes, regardless of who commissions such advertising. Political advertising also includes communications that are detrimental to another political party, political movement, coalition, their representatives or candidates, or other independent political representatives or candidates.
- Regulation (EU) 2024/900 of the European Parliament and of the Council on transparency and targeting of political advertising, applicable from October 10, 2025, and implemented by Adaptation Act No. 234/2025 Coll., on election campaigns and transparency of political advertising targeting, which is partially effective from October 10, 2025, and partially from January 1, 2026 (according to the interpretation of the Office for Personal Data Protection, the new rules will apply to elections announced after January 1, 2026); political advertising must always be clearly and unambiguously labeled with information about its sponsor (or, where applicable, the ultimate controlling entity), the processor, details about the election or referendum it concerns, and a link to the transparency report (which may also be provided in the form of a QR code(.
- Act No. 40/1995 Coll., on the regulation of advertising;
- Relevant election laws, as applicable.
Within the services of Seznam.cz, such communications must comply with all obligations and rules arising particularly from the following regulations:
General Rules
- Political advertising must not:
- Be targeted based on the processing of personal data or in any manner utilizing the user’s identity. Thus, targeting based on the following is prohibited:
- Age (age group) or gender;
- User interests or purchase interests;
- Retargeting, Lookalike audiences, or custom customer lists.
- Contravene good morals or contain any discrimination based on race, gender, or nationality, nor attack religious or national sentiments;
- Threaten morality in a generally unacceptable manner, degrade human dignity, or include elements of pornography, violence, or fear-based motifs;
- Use false or misleading information;
- Depict or attack political opponents in a defamatory or expressive manner;
- Attack political beliefs.
- Be targeted based on the processing of personal data or in any manner utilizing the user’s identity. Thus, targeting based on the following is prohibited:
In disputed cases, Seznam.cz reserves the right to consult specific creative materials with representatives of the Demagog project. Should this partner evaluate the creative as “False” or “Misleading statement,” Seznam.cz reserves the right to refuse such advertising campaigns with proper justification.
- Political advertising is excluded from the following formats:
- Sklik
- open RTB
- Audio ads
- Commercial articles, PR articles
- Advertorials, Talks
- Direct mail
- HP Exclusiv products
- Seznam Native
- Native advertising (including combined advertising in Sklik
- Partner page (Právo and magazines) and formats smaller than 1/3 of the page
- This format must not be used to circumvent the rules established for political advertising. Circumvention will be deemed to include news, journalistic, opinion, or other articles that contain messaging to the detriment of a specific political party, political movement, coalition, their representatives or candidates, or other independent political representatives or candidates, and/or whose aim is otherwise to influence election results or political opinions, or to link from advertising to websites containing such content.
The advertiser is obliged to inform Seznam.cz of any changes in their campaigns for the purpose of updating the political advertising transparency report.
From three days before the election until the close of voting, publishing any pre-election or election poll results in any manner is prohibited.