Non-party campaigners: Senedd elections

The production or publication of material

Campaign material will be a regulated campaign activity if it meets the purpose test and is made available for the public or a section of the public to hear or see. Whether the material is publicly available is determined by who has access to that material.

If you produce material that relates to an electoral event, or to a party, candidate or elected office-holder, you may need to include an imprint. There are separate requirements that apply to printed and digital materials. As good practice, we recommend you include an imprint on all materials you publish.

Material restricted to specific people

Material that you limit so it can only be seen by a closed group of members or people that have chosen to receive it will not be considered made available to the public, or a section of the public.

If the public are not able to access material, it will not be regulated campaign activity. This applies whether the material is printed or digital.

For example, you produce a newsletter which you send only to people who have signed up to receive updates from you, have joined your membership scheme or have donated to your campaign. You do not make this newsletter available anywhere else.

As the newsletter has only been shared with specific people, it has not been made available to the public, or a section of the public. It will not be a regulated campaign activity.

Websites and blogs

Website content, including blogs, will be considered made available to the public if there are no restrictions on who can access the content. It will be regulated if it:

contains content that can reasonably be regarded as intended to influence voters
is advertised (or otherwise promoted) to the public, or a section of the public, in connection with your campaign

Advertising or promoting can include:

giving the website address as a source for more information on other campaign material, or in other communications such as email updates
enhancing the website’s position in search engine result lists
placing links on other websites
organised viral marketing or similar activities

For example, you produce a graphic during the regulated period that you encourage your supporters to share on their social media accounts to bring attention to your organisation. The graphic includes a link to a public page on your website where people can find out more information about your campaign. You have assessed that both the graphic and the website meet the purpose test.

Neither the website nor the graphic have restrictions on who can access them and are therefore considered made available to the public. As the material also meets the purpose test they will count as regulated campaign activities.

In contrast, if you put material on your website that is available only to people you send the link to, for example to those who have signed up to your email mailing list, this material will not be considered made available to the public. In this scenario the material will not be a regulated campaign activity.

Social media

Campaign material published on social media that is available for anyone to view has been made available to the public. This includes campaign material naming or targeted at a particular section of the public, for example campaigns directed at residents of a particular area, or people who are members of specific groups or networks.

However, social media content that is restricted to a specific group of people and cannot be accessed by any member of the public, has not been made available to the public. For example, campaign material shared only on a closed Facebook group or private X (formerly Twitter) account would likely not be regulated for this reason.

To assess whether campaign material you make available to the public on social media will be regulated, you will need to consider whether it also meets the purpose test.

If spending on social media is available to the public, or a section of the public, and meets the purpose test, you must account for the cost of producing, updating and distributing this material. In many cases, the costs of posting material on a social media site, for example sending a tweet or updating a Facebook page, will be negligible.

Newspapers and periodicals

The production or publication of any content – other than an advertisement – in a newspaper or periodical (including online versions of newspapers and periodicals) is not regulated campaign activity.1

However, if you advertise in a newspaper or periodical, the advertisement will be regulated if the advertisement is available to the public, or a section of the public, and meets the purpose test. An example of this would be an advertisement you place in a local newsletter encouraging the public to vote for a group of candidates.

Last updated: 19 August 2025