— Edition 1.247 52 verified trackers
ES EN
Politics · Technology · Digital regulation  ·  where data speaks before headlines
Snapshot data
AML/OFAC enforcement against banks and fintech — 418 penalties documented 418 AML/OFAC penalties documented across 177 countries and 379 regula… Corporate bankruptcy and insolvency (Chapter 11) — 4 major corporate bankrup… Corporate bankruptcies hit decade highs: over 717 in the year per S&P… High-impact litigation risk index — 4 high-impact litigations… The risk index (0-100) aggregates five objective factors —procedural … Merger control: multi-jurisdiction competition … — 9 decisions and jurisdict… Merger control diverges by jurisdiction in 2026: the Trump administra… PEPs and sanctions networks · Ibero-American graph — 40 PEP/company nodes with … Ibero-American PEP→company→sanction graph (core: Mapa del Poder, 424 … Sovereign debt distress and restructurings — 5 distress/restructuring … The IMF's 6th Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable report (April 15, 2026… Forced labor in supply chains: entity lists — 4 forced-labor exposure i… Upstream exposure intelligence densifies: the UFLPA Entity List reach… EU AI Act — designation of national authorities — 3/10/14 / 27 Member States Tracker's first event: 3 states with both authorities / 10 partial / … AI Act · Notified bodies for conformity assessment — 1 body with AI-specific a… Ecosystem 'not ready' as of Mar-2026 (standards unpublished, insuffic… Scandal → conviction gap — — milestones logged +1 mirror case: Uribe — 7 years to convict, 8 weeks to reverse, open-… Technology ↔ regulation gap — 26 regulatory milestones +1: Peru closes the generative-AI gap in ~3 years (DS 115-2025-PCM), … CNMC Spain · the Digital Services Coordinator g… — 6 documented milestones The gap becomes chronic: Congress struck down the CNMC's legal empowe… Corporate data breaches: from incident to response — 11 breaches documented +1: Canvas/Instructure, the largest known education breach (≈275M rec… Migration friction in corporate and event mobility — 3 incidents and policies … The 2026 World Cup works as a live stress test: 39 countries under fu… Power and corruption in the courts in Ibero-Ame… — 29 documented cases Jun-2026 review: Uribe updated — first-instance conviction overturned… Crypto · Licenses and authorizations by jurisdi… — 40+ CASPs with full MiCA au… July 1, 2026 cliff: the transitional regime expires (ESMA, Apr 17) wi… Data breaches · Class-action settlements — 5 settlements and mass ca… 271 million dollars across four settlements approved or with deadline… Digital regulatory risk index by country — 16 countries profiled Jun-2026 review: Brazil updated on two layers (EU adequacy Jan 26, 20… Digital services taxes (DST) by country — 3 tax-map milestones docu… About half of European OECD countries have a DST announced, proposed … Global election risk 2026: democracy and digita… — 32 elections profiled 32 electoral processes of 2026 profiled by political regime and digit… ESG · Greenwashing enforcement — 3 enforcement milestones … The legal floor arrives Sep 27, 2026 (ECGT across the 27; transpositi… EU · Digital & sustainability regulatory deadli… — 6 calendar milestones doc… Next critical deadlines: Jun 23, 2026 closes the high-risk classifica… Export controls · Entity List and advanced chips — 6 regime milestones docum… The 2026 shift: licensing for H200/MI325X and equivalents to China mo… GDPR · International transfers and adequacy dec… — 6 framework milestones do… The EU-US DPF remains in force after surviving its first judicial cha… LATAM · AI bills in legislative process — 150+ bills identified 150+ count re-verified; milestones: Peru only country with a regulate… LATAM · Judicial and regulatory sanctions on pl… — $5,2M USD · fine on X Corp. i… Paradigm shift: the STF declared Art. 19 of the Marco Civil partially… Digital political ad spending 2026 — 6 country-platform observ… AdImpact's revised projection (Jun 11): $11.6bn for the 2026 cycle — … Shadow fleet · Sanctioned vessels and enablers — 632 vessels designated by t… +46 vessels in the 20th package (Reg. 2026/506/509/511) to 632; Art. … Whistleblower awards · SEC, CFTC and equivalent… — 3 program milestones docu… The SEC awarded over $60M to 48 whistleblowers in fiscal year 2025 (2… AI Act · Sanctions regime and its actual enforc… — 0 documented AI Act fines… 0 AI Act penalties issued to date: enforcement of high-risk obligatio… Beneficial ownership transparency (UBO / CTA / … — 4 transparency milestones 4 beneficial-ownership transparency milestones documented; the EU req… Crypto industry: collapses, sanctions and convi… — 13 documented cases 13 cases of collapses, sanctions and convictions in the crypto sector… AI harms in court — litigation, rulings and set… — 103 documented cases 103 AI-related harm and rights lawsuits documented; 2026 milestones: … DMA · designated gatekeepers and real compliance — 9 documented DMA acts 9 DMA compliance actions documented against gatekeepers; 2026 develop… Documented electoral disinformation 2026 — 7 documented campaigns 7 electoral disinformation campaigns or patterns documented with open… GDPR · which national authority really sanctions — 11 authorities profiled 11 GDPR enforcement country profiles and milestones documented; 2026 … LATAM · Internet shutdowns and platform blocks — 8 documented events · 202… 8 internet shutdown and blocking episodes documented in Latin America… Operational resilience & cyber (DORA / NIS2 / SEC) — 4 regulatory milestones 4 operational-resilience milestones documented; 2026 is the first rea… Digital fines actually imposed — 61 sanctions recorded 61 high-value penalties across 18 jurisdictions and 6 continents; cov… Commercial spyware: documented cases worldwide — 23 documented cases 23 spyware and surveillance cases documented across the Ibero-America… Trade compliance & forced labor (UFLPA) — 4 actions documented 4 trade-compliance actions on forced labor documented; under UFLPA ar… US · the state AI regulation patchwork — 10 laws and milestones 10 state AI laws or milestones documented in the U.S.; 2026 developme… Electoral digital integrity 2026 — 13 elections profiled 13 elections profiled by digital integrity; 5 with transparent politi… Climate: the gap between pledge and action — 12 countries assessed 12 countries assessed by the Climate Action Tracker: 10 with insuffic… Content moderation: appeals and reversals — 19 documented decisions 19 appealed and reviewed moderation decisions, with their policy, ori… Public AI spending — global government contracts — 50 documented contracts 50 public AI contracts across 15 jurisdictions on 5 continents (45 wi… Campaign promises → fulfillment — 29 term evaluations 29 terms evaluated across 25 countries on five continents EU · Consolidated DSA enforcement decisions — €120M first DSA fine · X · 5 … 5 Member States referred to CJEU for insufficient DSC implementation LATAM · Digital spending in 2026 electoral camp… — $14.794M COP · highest declared … Only 8 of 13 campaigns had reported in Cuentas Claras by mid-May Ibero-America · documented public contracts wit… — 3 contracts verified with… DC registry kickoff · ongoing monthly manual sweep RSF · Press freedom in Latin America — 144 Peru's rank (the region… AR -11 · PE -14 · SV -8 · EC -31 · USA -7 AML/OFAC enforcement against banks and fintech — 418 penalties documented 418 AML/OFAC penalties documented across 177 countries and 379 regula… Corporate bankruptcy and insolvency (Chapter 11) — 4 major corporate bankrup… Corporate bankruptcies hit decade highs: over 717 in the year per S&P… High-impact litigation risk index — 4 high-impact litigations… The risk index (0-100) aggregates five objective factors —procedural … Merger control: multi-jurisdiction competition … — 9 decisions and jurisdict… Merger control diverges by jurisdiction in 2026: the Trump administra… PEPs and sanctions networks · Ibero-American graph — 40 PEP/company nodes with … Ibero-American PEP→company→sanction graph (core: Mapa del Poder, 424 … Sovereign debt distress and restructurings — 5 distress/restructuring … The IMF's 6th Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable report (April 15, 2026… Forced labor in supply chains: entity lists — 4 forced-labor exposure i… Upstream exposure intelligence densifies: the UFLPA Entity List reach… EU AI Act — designation of national authorities — 3/10/14 / 27 Member States Tracker's first event: 3 states with both authorities / 10 partial / … AI Act · Notified bodies for conformity assessment — 1 body with AI-specific a… Ecosystem 'not ready' as of Mar-2026 (standards unpublished, insuffic… Scandal → conviction gap — — milestones logged +1 mirror case: Uribe — 7 years to convict, 8 weeks to reverse, open-… Technology ↔ regulation gap — 26 regulatory milestones +1: Peru closes the generative-AI gap in ~3 years (DS 115-2025-PCM), … CNMC Spain · the Digital Services Coordinator g… — 6 documented milestones The gap becomes chronic: Congress struck down the CNMC's legal empowe… Corporate data breaches: from incident to response — 11 breaches documented +1: Canvas/Instructure, the largest known education breach (≈275M rec… Migration friction in corporate and event mobility — 3 incidents and policies … The 2026 World Cup works as a live stress test: 39 countries under fu… Power and corruption in the courts in Ibero-Ame… — 29 documented cases Jun-2026 review: Uribe updated — first-instance conviction overturned… Crypto · Licenses and authorizations by jurisdi… — 40+ CASPs with full MiCA au… July 1, 2026 cliff: the transitional regime expires (ESMA, Apr 17) wi… Data breaches · Class-action settlements — 5 settlements and mass ca… 271 million dollars across four settlements approved or with deadline… Digital regulatory risk index by country — 16 countries profiled Jun-2026 review: Brazil updated on two layers (EU adequacy Jan 26, 20… Digital services taxes (DST) by country — 3 tax-map milestones docu… About half of European OECD countries have a DST announced, proposed … Global election risk 2026: democracy and digita… — 32 elections profiled 32 electoral processes of 2026 profiled by political regime and digit… ESG · Greenwashing enforcement — 3 enforcement milestones … The legal floor arrives Sep 27, 2026 (ECGT across the 27; transpositi… EU · Digital & sustainability regulatory deadli… — 6 calendar milestones doc… Next critical deadlines: Jun 23, 2026 closes the high-risk classifica… Export controls · Entity List and advanced chips — 6 regime milestones docum… The 2026 shift: licensing for H200/MI325X and equivalents to China mo… GDPR · International transfers and adequacy dec… — 6 framework milestones do… The EU-US DPF remains in force after surviving its first judicial cha… LATAM · AI bills in legislative process — 150+ bills identified 150+ count re-verified; milestones: Peru only country with a regulate… LATAM · Judicial and regulatory sanctions on pl… — $5,2M USD · fine on X Corp. i… Paradigm shift: the STF declared Art. 19 of the Marco Civil partially… Digital political ad spending 2026 — 6 country-platform observ… AdImpact's revised projection (Jun 11): $11.6bn for the 2026 cycle — … Shadow fleet · Sanctioned vessels and enablers — 632 vessels designated by t… +46 vessels in the 20th package (Reg. 2026/506/509/511) to 632; Art. … Whistleblower awards · SEC, CFTC and equivalent… — 3 program milestones docu… The SEC awarded over $60M to 48 whistleblowers in fiscal year 2025 (2… AI Act · Sanctions regime and its actual enforc… — 0 documented AI Act fines… 0 AI Act penalties issued to date: enforcement of high-risk obligatio… Beneficial ownership transparency (UBO / CTA / … — 4 transparency milestones 4 beneficial-ownership transparency milestones documented; the EU req… Crypto industry: collapses, sanctions and convi… — 13 documented cases 13 cases of collapses, sanctions and convictions in the crypto sector… AI harms in court — litigation, rulings and set… — 103 documented cases 103 AI-related harm and rights lawsuits documented; 2026 milestones: … DMA · designated gatekeepers and real compliance — 9 documented DMA acts 9 DMA compliance actions documented against gatekeepers; 2026 develop… Documented electoral disinformation 2026 — 7 documented campaigns 7 electoral disinformation campaigns or patterns documented with open… GDPR · which national authority really sanctions — 11 authorities profiled 11 GDPR enforcement country profiles and milestones documented; 2026 … LATAM · Internet shutdowns and platform blocks — 8 documented events · 202… 8 internet shutdown and blocking episodes documented in Latin America… Operational resilience & cyber (DORA / NIS2 / SEC) — 4 regulatory milestones 4 operational-resilience milestones documented; 2026 is the first rea… Digital fines actually imposed — 61 sanctions recorded 61 high-value penalties across 18 jurisdictions and 6 continents; cov… Commercial spyware: documented cases worldwide — 23 documented cases 23 spyware and surveillance cases documented across the Ibero-America… Trade compliance & forced labor (UFLPA) — 4 actions documented 4 trade-compliance actions on forced labor documented; under UFLPA ar… US · the state AI regulation patchwork — 10 laws and milestones 10 state AI laws or milestones documented in the U.S.; 2026 developme… Electoral digital integrity 2026 — 13 elections profiled 13 elections profiled by digital integrity; 5 with transparent politi… Climate: the gap between pledge and action — 12 countries assessed 12 countries assessed by the Climate Action Tracker: 10 with insuffic… Content moderation: appeals and reversals — 19 documented decisions 19 appealed and reviewed moderation decisions, with their policy, ori… Public AI spending — global government contracts — 50 documented contracts 50 public AI contracts across 15 jurisdictions on 5 continents (45 wi… Campaign promises → fulfillment — 29 term evaluations 29 terms evaluated across 25 countries on five continents EU · Consolidated DSA enforcement decisions — €120M first DSA fine · X · 5 … 5 Member States referred to CJEU for insufficient DSC implementation LATAM · Digital spending in 2026 electoral camp… — $14.794M COP · highest declared … Only 8 of 13 campaigns had reported in Cuentas Claras by mid-May Ibero-America · documented public contracts wit… — 3 contracts verified with… DC registry kickoff · ongoing monthly manual sweep RSF · Press freedom in Latin America — 144 Peru's rank (the region… AR -11 · PE -14 · SV -8 · EC -31 · USA -7
/ trackers / political-ad-spending-2026
Electoral transparency and platforms

Digital political ad spending 2026

Tracking of digital political ad spending declared in platforms' ad libraries (Meta, Google) during the 2026 elections, by country. It measures a key gap for electoral transparency: the distance between what is visible in public Ad Libraries and what escapes them —ads not labeled as political, spending on platforms without a library, or undeclared influencers—. It is a scarce, high-value data point for regulators, data journalism and transparency teams. Each record documents country, platform, observable amount and period, with its source.

Snapshot · June 12, 2026
6
country-platform observations
↑ AdImpact's revised projection (Jun 11): $11.6bn for the 2026 cycle — the most expensive ever, surpassing for the first time in a midterm the prior presidential cycle ($11.2bn in 2024) and the 2022 midterm record ($8.9bn); $4bn already spent by June 1 (+46%); broadcast $5.6bn (48%), CTV $2.7bn (23%, fastest-growing medium), digital $1.6bn; California governor $351M, the costliest ever

Evolution

Data analysis

Statistical readings derived from the attributes of each recorded case. All figures come from the documented events; amounts are computed only over cases with a sum expressed in the indicated currency, without converting between currencies.

Platform

Distribution of spending observations by platform with an ad library.

Region

Regional distribution of digital political-spend observations.

Spend transparency

Whether political spend is traceable in a public ad library or largely falls outside it.

Global incidence map

Choropleth by number of forensically or judicially documented cases. Countries with no verifiable public cases remain in the base colour — the absence of events does not equal the absence of surveillance. Hover or click a coloured country to see the cases.

Natural Earth 50m · Diálogo Ciudadano

Reading the data

The United States projects $10.8 billion in political advertising in 2026; the European Union, by contrast, banned political advertising on platforms. But the most revealing data point is not how much is spent, but how much escapes the ad libraries: when the EU banned it, the spending did not vanish, it became invisible.

JG
Juan D. Gonzáles · Data and visualization · Panamá
May 26, 2026 · 5 min read

Digital political ad spending is one of the most coveted and worst-measured data points of any election. Coveted because it reveals who invests in persuading and with how much muscle. Poorly measured because much of it happens in places no ad library reaches. This tracker does not attempt an impossible total figure; it attempts to map the gap between what is seen and what escapes.

The two ends of the 2026 spectrum are instructive. The United States, with no federal transparency law, faces the most expensive midterm in its history: a projection of $10.8 billion in political advertising, a growing portion of it digital. The European Union took the opposite path: under Regulation 2024/900, it banned political advertising on platforms, and Meta and Google suspended it in October 2025.

The European paradox: banning political advertising to make it more transparent had the opposite effect in the short term. In Hungary, spending was reclassified as non-political content and kept circulating via proxy pages —a pro-Fidesz group spent over €1.7 million on Facebook—, no longer triggering transparency requirements. What cannot be seen cannot be audited.

The value is in the gap, not the total

For an electoral regulator, a data journalist or a transparency team, the useful question is not 'how much was spent in total' —a figure no one can know for certain— but 'what portion of real spending is traceable and what portion escapes us'. In Brazil, declared digital advertising is a small fraction, but the influence via WhatsApp and influencers, which no library captures, weighs far more. In Colombia, the polling blackout and private messaging do the same.

That is this tracker's design: each record documents the observable spending on a platform with a queryable library and, above all, notes what falls outside. The visible figure is the floor, not the ceiling. And the distance between that floor and real spending —impossible to measure precisely but possible to bound qualitatively— is exactly the opacity risk that matters to anyone watching electoral transparency.

Methodology note

The amounts come from Meta and Google ad libraries and from attributed third-party estimates (AdImpact, HDMO, Statista). No unpublished figures are imputed. The spending visible in a library is a floor, not a total. The gap (what escapes the library) is interpreted qualitatively. Meta and Google are prioritized for having queryable libraries; TikTok bans political advertising and X has its own rules.

The charts and map are computed from each record's attributes. This tracker is informational infrastructure, not an official campaign accounting.

Documented events (6)

June 11, 2026 US confirmed

AdImpact raises the projection to $11.6bn: the 2026 midterms surpass a presidential cycle for the first time

AdImpact's June 11, 2026 revised projection puts cycle ad spending at 11.6 billion dollars — the most expensive in U.S. history, 30% above the 2022 midterm record (8.9bn), above the 2024 presidential cycle (11.2bn) and 795 million over its own prior projection. By June 1, 4 billion had already been spent (+46% versus 2024's comparable point). Media split: broadcast 5.6bn (48%), CTV 2.7bn (23%, fastest-growing), cable 1.4bn and digital —Facebook, Google, Snapchat and X— 1.6bn (+9% over projection). Milestones: California's governor race is on pace to be history's costliest (351M); Ohio rises 309M to 749M and Texas 288M on Senate races; downballot sets a record (3bn); and the House is revised down (2.2bn→2bn) because redistricting made 28 races less competitive — money's footprint following the map. The heaviest stretch lies ahead: August-November historically concentrates 58-67% of cycle spend, October alone 28-36%.

AdImpact — 2026 election cycle to reach record $11.6 billion ↗ CNBC — 2026 ad spend to outpace presidential years ↗ OpenSecrets — Political ad spending projected to reach new high ↗
November 3, 2026 US confirmed

Estados Unidos: 2026 digital political ad spending (Multiplataforma)

Total political ad spending is projected at $10.8 billion for the 2025-2026 cycle, the most expensive midterm in US history (AdImpact estimate); in 2024 over $1.9 billion went to online advertising. Gap: transparency depends on voluntary libraries; much of the connected-TV and streaming spend escapes the Ad Libraries.

AdImpact Political Projections 2025-2026 / OpenSecrets ↗
April 12, 2026 HU confirmed

Hungría: 2026 digital political ad spending (Meta)

After the EU political-ad ban (Regulation 2024/900), Meta and Google suspended it, but spending continued via proxy pages: the pro-Fidesz group Megafon spent over €1.7 million on promotional content on Facebook in 2024. Extreme gap: political advertising was reclassified as non-political and stopped triggering transparency requirements.

Hungarian Digital Media Observatory (HDMO) / Euronews ↗
September 13, 2026 SE confirmed

Suecia: 2026 digital political ad spending (Meta/Google)

Under the political-ad transparency Regulation (TTPA), in force since October 2025, Meta and Google suspended political advertising in the EU. The Commission plans a centralized European repository from April 2026. Paradoxical gap: the ban reduced visible advertising but pushed spending toward less traceable channels.

Comisión Europea / TechPolicy.Press ↗
May 31, 2026 CO confirmed

Colombia: 2026 digital political ad spending (Meta/Google)

Colombian political advertising is partially traceable in Meta and Google libraries during the presidential campaign, but much activity happens in private messaging (WhatsApp, Telegram) outside any library. Gap: the polling blackout and the weight of private messaging limit the traceability of real spending.

Meta Ad Library / CNE Colombia ↗
October 4, 2026 BR confirmed

Brasil: 2026 digital political ad spending (Meta/Google)

Brazil restricts digital political advertising under TSE rules. Historically, digital advertising has been a fraction of spending: in 2022 it was around 3% of the total, against traditional TV and radio. Gap: the bulk of spending remains in traditional media, but digital influence (WhatsApp, influencers) escapes Ad Library measurement.

Tribunal Superior Eleitoral / Statista ↗

Methodology

Type
event-log
Construction
DC editorial construction
Cadence
event-driven

Each record documents the political ad spending observable in a platform's ad library for a 2026 election, by country. The amount is the one declared/observable in the Ad Library, not the outlet's own estimate; where a figure is a third party's estimate, it is attributed. The gap is interpreted qualitatively: what portion of real political spending falls outside the library (platforms without an Ad Library, unlabeled ads, influencer content). No unpublished figures are imputed. Meta and Google are prioritized as the platforms with queryable libraries.

Sources consulted

  1. Meta Ad Library Report ↗ official
  2. Google Ads Transparency Center ↗ official
  3. Comisión Europea — Reglamento (UE) 2024/900 sobre transparencia de publicidad política ↗ official