TikTok political ads policy: paid ads banned, with one exception

TikTok bans paid political advertising across its monetization features, including paid ads and creators compensated for branded political content. The one election exception is for official entities responsible for overseeing elections, which may advertise procedures for taking part, such as logistical information and voter registration.

This summarizes TikTok's ads policy page, read 2026-09-30. It is not legal advice; the policy page is the authority.

What is prohibited?

Referencing, promoting or opposing current officials, candidates, political parties or PACs; advocacy for or against elections, referenda or policy outcomes; and merchandise featuring prohibited individuals or campaign symbols. Creators paid for political content face the same restrictions as paid ads.

Who may advertise election information?

Only official entities responsible for overseeing elections, and only about procedures and methods for participating in elections or referendums. Government entities may also advertise tourism, cultural events and public-interest topics such as public health, safety or education.

How would an election office build the allowed video?

As a short captioned presenter clip. Sume's avatar videos accept a script when Sume estimates the video at 4 to 60 seconds, support aspect_ratio of 9:16, and can burn captions into the final MP4 from the spoken script. A voice.type: "silence" scene is a non-speaking beat, which suits a text-only card with dates or a web address.

Should the presenter look like a real person?

An avatar is created from a prompt, profile or image inputs, per the avatar docs; it is not a real candidate or official. Do not model it on a real person. For labeling see how to label a TikTok ad as AI-generated.