Berlin regulator finds four parties broke GDPR with Facebook targeting
Privacy and policy · 21 Oct 2026 · By the Cofoundr team
Berlin's data protection authority concluded that four German political parties had no legal basis for showing Facebook ads to voters based on inferred political interests during the 2021 election campaign. The privacy group noyb published the closing notices on 21 October 2026.
The key points
- The targeting used political opinions, which are special category data under GDPR Article 9.
- According to noyb, the parties received reprimands. No fines or bans were issued.
- A complaint against the AfD is still pending.
What it means for agencies
The advertiser can be responsible for interest-based targeting that relies on sensitive data, not only the platform. Agencies running ads in the EU should check that no ad set targets, or lets Meta infer, categories linked to political views, health, religion or similar. Meta's own ad policies and its Help Center are the place to check current rules.
Source: PPC Land. This is our own summary. Read the original for the full detail, and check Meta's current documentation before changing client accounts.