Berlin data protection authority finds German parties illegal microtargeting

What happened

• The Berlin Data Protection Authority issued decisions that the Social Democrats, Greens, Left and CDU used personal political interests to target users with personalised ads during the 2021 federal election.
• The AfD case remains pending after the party challenged the DPA’s investigative powers in court.
• The decisions signal that political micro‑targeting is prohibited under German data‑protection law.

Why it matters

Political actors in Germany must obtain explicit consent or another valid legal basis before using personal political interests for targeted advertising, or risk enforcement actions.

Business impact

Campaign teams will need to redesign digital advertising strategies, implement consent mechanisms or cease micro‑targeted political ads, increasing compliance costs and limiting data‑driven outreach.

What to check

1. 1

   audit political advertising data practicesHigh priority

   Review all digital campaign processes to confirm a lawful basis, such as explicit consent, for using personal political interest data.

2. 2

   update consent managementMedium priority

   Implement clear, opt‑in consent flows for any profiling that could be used for political micro‑targeting.

3. 3

   document processing activitiesMedium priority

   Maintain detailed records of the legal basis, data categories, and purposes for any political advertising data processing.