Political Ad Policy

For the purpose of this Policy, “Political Ads” shall include any paid-for communications that promote or oppose a political party, a candidate at any level of government for public office, or a ballot initiative, or that attempt to influence political opinion or actions including advertising that takes a position on an issue associated with a registered party or candidate, even if the name of that party, candidate, or initiative is not explicitly mentioned. “Creative” refers to ad units, or any content used in connection with the serving of ads using Madhive’s services.

The following requirements apply to Clients using Madhive services to run Political Ads:

  1. Clients must flag as “political” all Madhive platform advertisers that run Political Ads (“Political Advertisers”) by selecting the “Law, Gov’t & Politics” IAB category from the drop-down menu in the Advertiser screen. Additionally, Client must select one of the following IAB subcategories:  (i) Immigration; (ii) Legal Issues, (iii) U.S. Government Resources, (iv) Politics, (v) Commentary.  It is Client’s responsibility to ensure that its Political Advertisers' Creative is also correctly flagged as political via the IAB categories. 

  2. Client must comply with all applicable federal, state, local and self-regulatory requirements, laws and regulations regarding political advertising, including complying with all applicable disclosure requirements  regarding the source of political advertisements, and records retention obligations.  Madhive requires all Political Ads and Political Advertisers to maintain, and make available upon request, all required records related to Political Ads, including, but not limited to:

    1. The name, contact information, and required verification (such as a federal or state election commission ID or other evidence of registration with applicable government entities) of the entity paying for dissemination of the Political Ads, federal or state election commission identification;

    2. The political candidate, ballot measures, or other election issue to which that Political Ad relates, as well as the type of election (e.g. federal or state);

    3. The advertising campaign criteria (e.g. creatives, flight dates, spend, impressions, targeting criteria).

  3. Political Ads must not include or contain:

    1. Any political advertisement in the United States if the advertiser is not located in the United States. 

    2. Creative promoting, glorifying, inciting, threatening, advocating or calling for acts of violence.

    3. Creative containing imagery of graphic or excessive violence, or gratuitous human suffering, including imagery of an individual being beaten, punched, kicked or attacked.

    4. Creative containing hateful or discriminatory content.

  4. Clients may not run Creative (political or nonpolitical) that makes a demonstrably false claim. 

    Examples of such violations include but are not limited to creative:

    1. That indicates or implies that people should vote on the wrong day or by text message, that or a candidate has died.

    2. That makes misleading claims about the census process.

    3. Declarations of premature victory when election results remain contested;

    4. That includes doctored media (“deep fakes”).

    5. That otherwise makes demonstrably false claims that could significantly undermine voter participation or trust in an electoral or democratic process.

  5. Clients may only run Political Ads on political publisher lists that have been vetted and approved by Madhive, and are designated as “Political” in the Madhive Platform. 

  6. The use of audience segments from Data Trust or TargetSmart will require Client to enter into an additional SOW with Madhive.

  7. Political Ads are subject to review by Madhive and may require additional screening and intake requirements. Client acknowledges that publishers displaying Political Ads may have their own policies that differ from this Political Ads Policy, and that publishers have discretion regarding what Political Ads run on their properties. Madhive reserves the right to reject or remove any Political Ads at its sole discretion, and may update this policy at any time by posting such updates. If you have any questions about this Political Ads Policy, please contact your account manager.