Advertising Practices and Requirements under DSA

Legal Framework

The DSA establishes a layered advertising transparency regime. Article 26 imposes baseline disclosure obligations on all online platforms that present advertisements, while Article 39 extends additional repository requirements to very large online platforms (VLOPs) and very large search engines (VLOSEs). Article 46 complements both by encouraging voluntary codes of conduct across the programmatic advertising value chain.

Recital 68 articulates the legislative rationale: online advertising generates risks from illegal ad content to discriminatory targeting affecting equal treatment and opportunities. The DSA therefore requires that recipients receive individualised, salient information enabling them to identify advertisements and understand who stands behind them.

"providers of online platforms should therefore be required to ensure that the recipients of the service have certain individualised information necessary for them to understand when and on whose behalf the advertisement is presented"
— DSA Recital 68

For VLOPs and VLOSEs, Article 39 mandates a publicly accessible, searchable repository retained for one year after an advertisement's last presentation. The repository must capture the advertisement's content, the party on whose behalf it was shown, who paid for it, the presentation period, and targeting parameters including any group exclusions:

"the content of the advertisement, including the name of the product, service or brand and the subject matter of the advertisement"
— DSA Art. 39

Article 46 directs the Commission to facilitate industry codes of conduct that bridge transparency gaps across the advertising value chain, particularly where intermediary services sit between advertisers and platforms:

"The Commission shall encourage the development of the codes of conduct by 18 February 2025 and their application by 18 August 2025."
— DSA Art. 46

Key Developments

No court rulings or enforcement decisions interpreting Articles 26, 39, or 46 DSA have yet emerged. The DSA's application dates for VLOPs and VLOSEs have passed, but formal enforcement actions specifically addressing advertising transparency remain at an early stage. The Commission's code-of-conduct process under Article 46 is still in development, with the February 2025 target for drafting and August 2025 for application.

The absence of enforcement precedent means practical thresholds — what constitutes "salient" disclosure markings, "meaningful explanations" of targeting logic, or sufficient repository searchability — remain undefined by authoritative decision-making.

Status of the Debate

This topic is developing: no dominant doctrinal pattern has emerged yet. The advertising provisions sit at the intersection of the DSA's platform-level transparency obligations, the E-Commerce Directive's intermediary liability regime, and the GDPR's profiling and consent requirements. The doctrinal landscape is further complicated by the interaction between mandatory obligations under Articles 26 and 39 and the voluntary codes under Article 46, which aim to reach actors — particularly advertising intermediaries — that may fall outside the DSA's direct regulatory scope.

Key open questions include what constitutes "meaningful information on data monetisation" under Article 46(2)(c), and how codes of conduct will transmit advertiser identity information across complex programmatic chains. Resolution will likely come through Commission-facilitated code adoption followed by regulatory enforcement establishing concrete thresholds.

Practical Guidance

• Ensure ad disclosure is salient and unambiguous: Article 26 requires that advertisements be identifiable through standardized visual or audio marks adapted to the platform's interface — not merely referenced in terms of service.

• Maintain the Article 39 repository with full metadata: VLOPs and VLOSEs must compile and publicly expose all repository elements — content, payer, beneficiary, period, targeting parameters, and total recipients — retaining records for one year after the advertisement's last presentation.

• Distinguish payer from beneficiary in disclosures: Both the person on whose behalf an ad is presented and, where different, the person who paid for it must be disclosed — a distinction particularly relevant in multi-layered programmatic chains.

• Engage with the Article 46 code-of-conduct process: Advertising intermediaries and platforms should participate in the Commission-facilitated codes, with development expected by February 2025 and application by August 2025.

• Cross-check targeting disclosures against GDPR lawfulness: Where ad targeting relies on profiling, the parameters disclosed under the DSA must be consistent with the GDPR's consent and lawfulness requirements — discrepancies between DSA transparency and GDPR lawfulness create compounding exposure.